EP 54 - Killian Clarke: Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed

In episode 54 of Tahrir Podcast, Killian Clarke joined to discuss his new book, "Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed" (Cambridge University Press, 2025)⁠.

The book offers one of the first systematic studies of counterrevolution. Drawing on global data since 1900 and new evidence from Egypt’s 2011 revolution, the book explains why counterrevolutions emerge and what enables them to succeed. It advances a movement-centric argument, showing how the strategies revolutionary leaders adopt—both during their campaigns and after taking power—shape a regime’s vulnerability. Violent, ideologically radical movements tend to build regimes that are hard to overturn, while democratic revolutions like Egypt’s face greater risks, though they can still avert counterrevolution by preserving elite coalitions, maintaining broad support, and mobilizing the public when threatened.

Killian Clarke is an Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, affiliated with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. This is his first book.

Link to book (use offer code REOTY2025 for 20% discount): https://www.cambridge.org/ga/universitypress/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/return-tyranny-why-counterrevolutions-emerge-and-succeed?format=HB&isbn=9781009646901

Link to Clarke's website: https://www.killianclarke.com/

Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CVIPKrsBn6s

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