Ellen Kay Trimberger. Revolution from Above: Military Bureaucrats and Development in Japan, Turkey, Egypt, and Peru. Pp. viii, 196. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1978. $14.95

• Author: Mario D. Zamora
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944100119
• Published date: 01 January 1979
• Date: 01 January 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

201

sions

drawn

therefrom

is

that

of

case

study,

specifically

the

isolation

of

im-

pulses,

trends,

pressure

groups,

ideas

and

anxieties,

political

factions

and

per-

sonalities,

and

power

blocs.

Conse-

quently,

the

reader

is

led

from

the

political -

economic -

imperial -

military

background

of

1901

through

the evolu-

tion

of

the

shifting

sands

of

alliance-

making,

war

scares,

naval

and

economic

rivalries,

quests

for

a

type

of

detente,

and

a

final

polarization

of

powers

in

an

attitude

of

confrontation.

The

reader

is

then

directed

through

a

rather

compli-

cated

assessment

of

British

internal

politics

for

the

decade

preceding

July,

1914,

which

is

handled

quite

satisfac-

torily,

considering

the

fractured

and

oftentimes

contradictory

nature

of

Brit-

ish

politics

at

that

time,

or,

for

that

matter,

any

time.

Next

comes

a

long

and

excellent

inquiry

into

the

moods

and

theories

driving

the

imperial

professionals-

&dquo;The

Foreign

Office&dquo;

and

&dquo;The

Military

and

Naval

Establishments&dquo;

respectively.

In

the

reviewer’s

opinion

this

chapter

alone

makes

the

book

worthwhile,

the

other

sections

serving

to

reinforce

this

singular

contribution.

Finally,

and

know-

ing

as

we

do

the

outcome

of

that

melan-

choly

summer,

one

reaches

&dquo;The

July

Crisis&dquo;

when

all

the

vector

forces

came

to

play

their

specific

and

collective

roles

in

the

decision

for

war-the

heritage

of

obligation,

the

strategic

consideration,

the

public’s

mood,

the

arrogance

of pride

and

the

fear

that

a

once-dominant

position

might

evaporate.

Thus

did

the

war

come

to

that

generation,

which

was

nearly

exterminated,

to

either

uphold

or

prevent

balances

from

shifting

or

the

calendar

from

turning.

CALVIN

W.

HINES

Stephen

F.

Austin

State

University

Nacogdoches

Texas

ELLEN

KAY

TRIMBERGER.

Revolution

from

Above:

Military

Bureaucrats

and

Development

in

Japan,

Turkey,

Egypt,

and

Peru.

Pp.

viii,

196.

New

Brunswick,

NJ:

Transaction

Books,

1978.

$14.95.

Revolution fromAbove

is

a

significant,

pioneering,

and

provocative

study

on

revolution.

Trimberger’s

purpose

in

writing

this

book

is

to

&dquo;develop

a

model

of

revolution

from

above

by

military

bureaucrats

as

distinct

from

either

coup

d’etat

or

mass-bourgeois

or

socialist-

revolution

from

below.&dquo;

Her

original

model

of revolution

from

above

later

was

revised

in

light

of

recent

&dquo;attempts

at

development

through

military

initiative

in

Nasser’s

Egypt

and

Velasco’s

Peru.&dquo;

In

five

well-written

and

coherent

chapters

and

a

lucid

conclusion,

the

author,

in

the

reviewer’s

judgment,

has

fairly

attained

her

main

objective.

Trim-

berger

defines

a

revolution

from

above

on

the

basis

of

five

characteristics:

the

extralegal

takeover

of

political

power

and

the

initiation

of change

is

organized;

there

is

little

or

no mass

participation

in

the

revolutionary

takeover;

extralegal

takeover

of

power

is

accompanied

by

very

little

violence;

initiation

of

change

is

...

with

little

appeal

to

radical

ideology;

and

military

bureaucrats

de-

stroy

the

economic

and

political

founda-

tion

of the

aristocracy

or

upper

class.

The

author

then

proceeds

to

document

and

analyze

the

case

of

the

Meiji

Restoration

of

1868

in

Japan,

and

of

the

Ataturk

takeover

of

1923

in

Turkey.

She

further

discusses

Nasser’s

revolution

in

Egypt

and

Velasco’s

takeover

in

Peru.

This

volume

challenges

the

conven-

tional

wisdom

that

revolutions

originate

mainly

from

below,

from

the

disgruntled

and

impoverished

masses

of

peasants

and

workers

in

the

third

world.

Through

a

comparative

historical

and

structural

approach

to

military

bureaucrats

and

development,

in

Japan,

Turkey,

Egypt,

and

Peru,

Trimberger

argues

that

revolu-

tions

from

above

are

the

rule

and

not

the

exceptions.

In

addition

to

the

theoretical

significance

of

Trimberger’s

study,

her

research

also

offers

clues

on

the

nature

and

consequences

of

revolutions

in

selected

societies

of

Asia,

Africa,

and

Latin

America.

On

the other

hand,

the

reviewer

is

constrained

to

ask

the

following

funda-

mental

questions:

How

valid

and

reli-

able

are

the

author’s

conclusions

on

revolution

from

above,

based

solely

on