From the Archive: Are revolutions justified?

This podcast was originally published in January 2026 and is being republished as part of our Summer archive series of LSE's Public Lectures and Events.

Ralph Miliband has written poignantly on the limits of parliamentary democracy. But are revolutions justified?

Moralists think that if the ends of revolution are right, revolution cannot be wrong. Legalists think that since the means of revolution are wrong, revolution cannot be right. In this lecture Lea Ypi revisits their arguments and offers an alternative that cuts across the divide. She examines revolution not in relation to the justice demanded by specific agents but grounded on a philosophical theory of history that focuses on collective progress.