A revolution (from the Latin Vulgar Latin was the nonstandard form of the Latin language; because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography, and only Classical Latin was used in writing. It is sometimes called colloquial Latin revolutio, "a turn around") is a fundamental change Social change as a sociological term is defined as, alterations in basic structures of a social group or society. Social change is an ever present phenomenon in social life, but has become especially intense in the modern era. The origins of modern sociology can be traced to attempts to understand the dramatic changes shattering the modern world in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time. Aristotle Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most described two types of political revolution:
- Complete change from one constitution to another
- Modification of an existing constitution.[1]
Revolutions have occurred through human history The history of the world is the recorded memory of the experience of Homo sapiens. Ancient human history begins with the invention, independently at several sites on Earth, of writing, which created the infrastructure for lasting, accurately transmitted memories and thus for the diffusion and growth of knowledge. Nevertheless, an appreciation of and vary widely in terms of methods, duration, and motivating ideology An ideology is a set of ideas that discusses one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class. Their results include major changes in culture Culture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:, economy An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area, the labor, capital and land resources, and the economic agents that socially participate in the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area. A given economy is the end result of a process that involves its technological evolution,, and socio Social organization or social institution, refers to a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. It can also be defined in a narrower sense as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups or people in it. Common examples include education, governments, families, economic systems,-political institutions A political system is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the legal system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. It is different from them, and can be generally defined on a spectrum from left, e.g. communism, to the right, e.g. fascism. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more.
Scholarly debates about what does and does not constitute a revolution center around several issues. Early studies of revolutions primarily analyzed events in European history History of Europe describes the history of humans inhabiting the European continent since it was first populated in prehistoric times to present, with the first human settlement between 45,000 and 25,000 BC from a psychological Psychology is the scientific study of human or other animal mental functions and behaviors. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist. Psychologists are classified as social or behavioral scientists. Psychological research can be considered either basic or applied. Psychologists attempt to understand the perspective, but more modern examinations include global events and incorporate perspectives from several social sciences The social sciences are the fields of academic scholarship that explore aspects of human society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences. These include: anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, international, including sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter and political science Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. And from these revelations they attempt to construct. Several generations of scholarly thought on revolutions have generated many competing theories and contributed much to the current understanding of this complex phenomenon.
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Political and socioeconomic revolutions
The storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille in Paris occurred on 14 July, 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. While the prison only contained seven prisoners at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution, and it subsequently became an icon of, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political. George Washington George Washington served as the first constitutional President of the United States from 1789 to 1797, and as the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. His role in the revolution and subsequent independence and formation of the United States was significant, and is seen by Americans as the ", leader of the American Revolution The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. They first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without. Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1870 – 21 January 1924), born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов, IPA [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ɪlʲˈjiʨ ʊlʲˈjanəf]), was a Russian revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 The October Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution—that began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar (7 November 1917 Gregorian calendar). It was the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution of 191. Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. Sun played an instrumental role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in October 1911, the last imperial dynasty of China. He was the first provisional president when the Republic of, leader of the Chinese Xinhai Revolution The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution , also known as the 1911 Revolution or the Chinese Revolution, began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912. The primary parties to the conflict were the Imperial forces of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) and the revolutionary in 1911.Perhaps most often, the word 'revolution' is employed to denote a change in socio Social organization or social institution, refers to a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. It can also be defined in a narrower sense as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups or people in it. Common examples include education, governments, families, economic systems,-political institutions A political system is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the legal system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. It is different from them, and can be generally defined on a spectrum from left, e.g. communism, to the right, e.g. fascism. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more.[2][3][4] Jeff Goodwin gives two definitions of a revolution. A broad one, where revolution is "any and all instances in which a state or a political regime In politics, a regime is the form of government: the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of government and its interactions with society. For instance, the United States has one of the oldest regimes still active in the world, dating to the ratification of its Constitution in 1789. Although modern usage often is overthrown and thereby transformed by a popular movement Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change in an irregular, extraconstitutional and/or violent fashion"; and a narrow one, in which "revolutions entail not only mass mobilization and regime change "Regime change" is the replacement of one regime with another. While it is widely believed that the term was first coined by former US President Bill Clinton, use of the term dates to at least 1925, but also more or less rapid and fundamental social, economic and/or cultural change, during or soon after the struggle for state A sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. While in abstract terms a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it hard to power Power is a measure of an entity's ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. The term authority is often used for power, perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings. Often, the study."[5] Jack Goldstone Jack A. Goldstone is an American sociologist and political scientist, specializing in studies of social movements, revolutions, and international politics. According to Peter Turchin , he made a significant contribution to the development of Cliodynamics. He is an author or editor of 9 books and nearly 100 research articles, and a consultant of defines them as
an effort to transform the political institutions and the justifications for political authority in society, accompanied by formal or informal mass mobilization and noninstitutionalized actions that undermine authorities.[6]
Political and socioeconomic revolutions have been studied in many social sciences The social sciences are the fields of academic scholarship that explore aspects of human society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences. These include: anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, international, particularly sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter, political sciences Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. Political scientists "see themselves engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions. And from these revelations they attempt to construct and history History is the study of the human past. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its. Among the leading scholars in that area have been or are Crane Brinton, Charles Brockett, Farideh Farhi, John Foran, John Mason Hart, Samuel Huntington Samuel Phillips Huntington was an American political scientist who gained wider prominence through his Clash of Civilizations (1993, 1996) thesis of a post-Cold War new world order, Jack Goldstone Jack A. Goldstone is an American sociologist and political scientist, specializing in studies of social movements, revolutions, and international politics. According to Peter Turchin , he made a significant contribution to the development of Cliodynamics. He is an author or editor of 9 books and nearly 100 research articles, and a consultant of, Jeff Goodwin, Ted Roberts Gurr, Fred Halliday, Chalmers Johnson Chalmers Ashby Johnson 1931 is an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He fought in the Korean war, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967-1973, and ran the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley for years. He is also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research, Tim McDaniel, Barrington Moore, Jeffery Paige, Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto , born Wilfried Fritz Pareto, was an Italian industrialist, sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices. "His legacy as an economist was profound. Partly because of him,, Terence Ranger Terence Osborn Ranger is a prominent African historian, focusing on the history of Zimbabwe. Part of the post-colonial generation of historians, his work spans the pre- and post-Independence (1980) period in Zimbabwe, from the 1960s to the present, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Theda Skocpol Theda Skocpol is an American sociologist and political scientist at Harvard University. She served from 2005 to 2007 as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Influential in sociology as an advocate of the historical-institutional and comparative approaches, and in political science for her "state autonomy theory", Skocpol has, James Scott[disambiguation needed], Eric Selbin, Charles Tilly Charles Tilly was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who has written books on the relationship between politics and society, Ellen Kay Trimbringer, Carlos Vistas, John Walton[disambiguation needed], Timothy Wickham-Crowley and Eric Wolf Eric Robert Wolf was an anthropologist, best known for his studies of peasants, Latin America, and his advocacy of Marxian perspectives within anthropology.[7]
Jack Goldstone Jack A. Goldstone is an American sociologist and political scientist, specializing in studies of social movements, revolutions, and international politics. According to Peter Turchin , he made a significant contribution to the development of Cliodynamics. He is an author or editor of 9 books and nearly 100 research articles, and a consultant of differentiates four 'generations' of scholarly research dealing with revolutions.[6] The scholars of the first generation such as Gustave Le Bon Gustave Le Bon was a French social psychologist, sociologist, and amateur physicist. He was the author of several works in which he expounded theories of national traits, racial superiority, herd behavior and crowd psychology, Charles A. Ellwood or Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (January 21, 1889 – February 11, 1968) was a Russian-American sociologist. Academic and political activist in Russia, he immigrated from Russia to the United States in 1923. He founded the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Like C. W. Mills, he was a vocal opponent of Talcott Parsons' theories. He is, were mainly descriptive in their approach, and their explanations of the phenomena of revolutions was usually related to social psychology Social psychology is the study of the relations between people and groups. Scholars in this interdisciplinary area are typically either psychologists or sociologists, though all social psychologists employ both the individual and the group as their units of analysis, such as Le Bon's crowd psychology Crowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also provoked controversy. Social scientists have theory.[2]
Second generation theorists sought to develop detailed theories In philosophy, theory refers to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action. Theory is especially often contrasted to "practice" (Greek praxis, πρᾶξις) which is a concept that in its original Aristotelian context referred to actions done for their own sake. The other type of actions are those "technical" ones done of why and when revolutions arise, grounded in more complex social behavior In biology, psychology and sociology social behavior is behavior directed towards society, or taking place between, members of the same species. Behavior such as predation which involves members of different species is not social. While many social behaviors are communication communication between members of different species is not social theories. They can be divided into three major approaches: psychological, sociological and political.[2]
The works of Ted Robert Gurr, Ivo K. Feierbrand, Rosalind L. Feierbrand, James A. Geschwender, David C. Schwartz and Denton E. Morrison fall into the first category. They followed theories of cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is a discipline within psychology that investigates the internal mental processes of thought such as visual processing, memory, thinking, learning, feeling, problem solving, and language and frustration-aggression theory and saw the cause of revolution in the state of mind of the masses, and while they varied in their approach as to what exactly caused the people to revolt (e.g. modernization, recession or discrimination), they agreed that the primary cause for revolution was the widespread frustration with socio-political situation.[2]
The second group, composed of academics such as Chalmers Johnson, Neil Smelser, Bob Jessop, Mark Hart, Edward A. Tiryakian, Mark Hagopian, followed in the footsteps of Talcott Parsons and the structural-functionalist theory in sociology; they saw society as a system in equilibrium between various resources, demands and subsystems (political, cultural, etc.). As in the psychological school, they differed in their definitions of what causes disequilibrium, but agreed that it is a state of a severe disequilibrium that is responsible for revolutions.[2]
Finally, the third group, which included writers such as Charles Tilly, Samuel P. Huntington, Peter Ammann and Arthur L. Stinchcombe followed the path of political sciences and looked at pluralist theory and interest group conflict theory. Those theories see events as outcomes of a power struggle between competing interest groups. In such a model, revolution happen when two or more groups cannot come to terms within a normal decision making process traditional for a given political system, and simultaneously have enough resources to employ force in pursuing their goals.[2]
The second generation theorists saw the development of the revolutions as a two-step process; first, some change results in the present situation being different from the past; second, the new situation creates an opportunity for a revolution to occur. In that situation, an event that in the past would not be sufficient to cause a revolution (ex. a war, a riot, a bad harvest), now is sufficient – however if authorities are aware of the danger, they can still prevent a revolution (through reform or repression).[6]
Many such early studies of revolutions tended to concentrate on four classic cases—famous and uncontroversial examples that fit virtually all definitions of revolutions, like the Glorious Revolution (1688), the French Revolution (1789–1799), the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Chinese Revolution (1927–1949).[6] In his famous "The Anatomy of Revolution", however, the eminent Harvard historian, Crane Brinton, focused on the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Russian Revolution.[8]
In time, scholars began to analyze hundreds of other events as revolutions (see list of revolutions and rebellions), and differences in definitions and approaches gave rise to new definitions and explanations. The theories of the second generation have been criticized for their limited geographical scope, difficulty in empirical verification, as well as that while they may explain some particular revolutions, they did not explain why revolutions did not occur in other societies in very similar situations.[6]
The criticism of the second generation led to the rise of a third generation of theories, with writers such as Theda Skocpol, Barrington Moore, Jeffrey Paige and others expanding on the old Marxist class conflict approach, turning their attention to rural agrarian-state conflicts, state conflicts with autonomous elites and the impact of interstate economic and military competition on domestic political change. Particularly Skocpol's States and Social Revolutions became one of the most widely recognized works of the third generation; Skocpol defined revolution as "rapid, basic transformations of society's state and class structures...accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below", attributing revolutions to a conjunction of multiple conflicts involving state, elites and the lower classes.[6]
The fall of the Berlin Wall and most of the events of the Autumn of Nations in Europe, 1989, were sudden and peaceful.From the late 1980s a new body of scholarly work began questioning the dominance of the third generation's theories. The old theories were also dealt a significant blow by new revolutionary events that could not be easily explain by them. The Iranian and Nicaraguan Revolutions of 1979, the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines and the 1989 Autumn of Nations in Europe saw multi-class coalitions topple seemingly powerful regimes amidst popular demonstrations and mass strikes in nonviolent revolutions.
Defining revolutions as mostly European violent state versus people and class struggles conflicts was no longer sufficient. The study of revolutions thus evolved in three directions, firstly, some researchers were applying previous or updated structuralist theories of revolutions to events beyond the previously analyzed, mostly European conflicts. Secondly, scholars called for greater attention to conscious agency in the form of ideology and culture in shaping revolutionary mobilization and objectives. Third, analysts of both revolutions and social movements realized that those phenomena have much in common, and a new 'fourth generation' literature on contentious politics has developed that attempts to combine insights from the study of social movements and revolutions in hopes of understanding both phenomena.[6]
While revolutions encompass events ranging from the relatively peaceful revolutions that overthrew communist regimes to the violent Islamic revolution in Afghanistan, they exclude coups d'états, civil wars, revolts and rebellions that make no effort to transform institutions or the justification for authority (such as Józef Piłsudski's May Coup of 1926 or the American Civil War), as well as peaceful transitions to democracy through institutional arrangements such as plebiscites and free elections, as in Spain after the death of Francisco Franco.[6]
Types
A Watt steam engine in Madrid. The development of the steam engine propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling them to be deepened beyond groundwater levels.There are many different typologies of revolutions in social science and literature. For example, classical scholar Alexis de Tocqueville differentiated[9] between 1) political revolutions 2) sudden and violent revolutions that seek not only to establish a new political system but to transform an entire society and 3) slow but sweeping transformations of the entire society that take several generations to bring about (ex. religion). One of several different Marxist typologies divides revolutions into pre-capitalist, early bourgeois, bourgeois, bourgeois-democratic, early proletarian, and socialist revolutions.[10]
Charles Tilly, a modern scholar of revolutions, differentiated[11] between a coup, a top-down seizure of power, a civil war, a revolt and a "great revolution" (revolutions that transform economic and social structures as well as political institutions, such as the French Revolution of 1789, Russian Revolution of 1917, or Islamic Revolution of Iran).[12]
Other types of revolution, created for other typologies, include the social revolutions; proletarian or communist revolutions inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism); failed or abortive revolutions (revolutions that fail to secure power after temporary victories or large-scale mobilization) or violent vs. nonviolent revolutions.
The term "revolution" has also been used to denote great changes outside the political sphere. Such revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed in society, culture, philosophy and technology much more than political systems; they are often known as social revolutions.[13] Some can be global, while others are limited to single countries. One of the classic examples of the usage of the word revolution in such context is the industrial revolution (note that such revolutions also fit the "slow revolution" definition of Tocqueville).[14]
List of revolutions
For a list of revolutions see:
See also
References
- ^ Aristotle, The Politics V, tr. T.A. Sinclair (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1964, 1972), p. 190.
- ^ a b c d e f Jack Goldstone, "Theories of Revolutions: The Third Generation, World Politics 32, 1980:425-53
- ^ John Foran, "Theories of Revolution Revisited: Toward a Fourth Generation", Sociological Theory 11, 1993:1-20
- ^ Clifton B. Kroeber, Theory and History of Revolution, Journal of World History 7.1, 1996: 21-40
- ^ Goodwin, p.9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Jack Goldstone, "Towards a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory", Annual Review of Political Science 4, 2001:139-87
- ^ Jeff Goodwin, No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991. Cambridge University Press, 2001, p.5
- ^ Crane Brinton, The Anatomy of Revolution, revised ed. (New York, Vintage Books, 1965). First edition, 1938.
- ^ Roger Boesche, Tocqueville's Road Map: Methodology, Liberalism, Revolution, and Despotism, Lexington Books, 2006, ISBN 0739116657, Google Print, p.86
- ^ (Polish) J. Topolski, "Rewolucje w dziejach nowożytnych i najnowszych (xvii-xx wiek)," Kwartalnik Historyczny, LXXXIII, 1976, 251-67
- ^ Charles Tilly, ''European Revolutions, 1492-1992, Blackwell Publishing, 1995, ISBN 0631199039, Google Print, p.16
- ^ Bernard Lewis, "Iran in History", Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University
- ^ Irving E. Fang, A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions, Focal Press, 1997, ISBN 0240802543, Google Print, p. xv
- ^ Warwick E. Murray, Routledge, 2006, ISBN 0415318009, Google Print, p.226
Bibliography
- The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present, ed. by Immanuel Ness, Malden, MA [etc.]: Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN 1405184647
- Perreau-Sausine, Emile, Les libéraux face aux révolutions : 1688, 1789, 1917, 1933, Commentaire, Spring 2005, pp. 181–193
External links
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Revolution |
- Hannah Arendt, IEP.UTM.edu, On Revolution, 1963, Penguin Classics, New Ed edition: February 8, 1991. ISBN 014018421X
- Daemon.be, Revolution in Political Risk Management
- John Kekes, City-Journal.org Why Robespierre Chose Terror. The lessons of the first totalitarian revolution, City Journal, Spring 2006.
- Plinio Correa de Oliveira, TFP.org, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, Foundation for a Christian, Third edition, 1993. ISBN 1877905275
- Michael Barken, ZMAG.org, Regulating revolutions in Eastern Europe: Polyarchy and the National Endowment for Democracy, 1 November 2006.
- Polyarchy.org, Polyarchy Documents: Revolution
- DailyEvergreen.com, Vive la Révolution!: Revolution is an Indelible Phenomenon Throughout History by Qasim Hussaini
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Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:01:32 GMT+00:00
in Spain's fortunes Telegraph.co.uk Strange as it seems to say, the reason Spain will walk out at Soccer City in their first World Cup final is the defeat they suffered in their first game of ... A Spain World Cup Win Could Start a Worldwide Football Revolution Premier League FanHouse (blog)
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Sid Meier s Civilization Revolution
elena maria vidal
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:43:00 GM
He would call it referring to his revered Cardinal Newman a possible development of doctrine, but never a . revolution. . There is no . revolution. in the Catholic Church. Divine revelation ended with the death of the Apostles. ...
Q. How did the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic Age affect lifestyle?
Asked by oriol003 - Thu Aug 28 21:28:43 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
A. population boom...
Answered by John[nottheapostle] - Thu Aug 28 21:35:13 2008


