ABSTRACT
A new regime must arise in a political context that carries with it multifaceted pressures and interests. A regime-changing country's fate is bound up in its level of economic and industrial development, Barrington Moore showed that agrarian societies were fertile ground for mass-mobilizing autocratic states, such as the Soviet Union and China. War often gives birth to new states. Because war or insurrection challenges almost all regimes at their foundations, most have to adapt along a number of dimensions in order to survive. Domestic political groups are not the only ones with a stake in regime transitions. Foreign and international actors attempt to influence the course of events both discretely and quite directly. Economic theory maintains that economies grow unless some intervening factor disrupts the market. Regime transitions are arguably one of the most likely disruptive events. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
