Third-generation theories of revolution pointed to the structuralvulnerabilities of regimes as the basic causes of revolutions. In the lastdecade, critics of structural theories have argued for the need to incorporateleadership, ideology, and processes of identification with revolutionarymovements as key elements in the production of revolution. Analyses ofrevolutions in developing countries and in communist regimes have furtherargued for incorporating these factors and for the inadequacy of structuraltheories to account for these events. Rather than try to develop a list of the“causes” of revolutions, it may be more fruitful for the fourthgeneration of revolutionary theory to treat revolutions as emergent phenomena,and to start by focusing on factors that cement regime stability. Weakness inthose factors then opens the way for revolutionary leadership, ideology, andidentification, along with structural factors such as international pressureand elite conflicts, to create revolutions.