The would-be revolutionary

What do you do when your government exerts a regime that is unacceptable to its people, and to you as a citizen? The historic thing to do is to start or participate in a revolution, but that can only be a temporary event, after which we must attain a better sociopolitical state. It helps to have a desired state in sight beyond the revolution.

This vision, or cause, is what must be supplied in order to rally the people, who are in everyday life a scattered, non-cooperative bunch. It is delivered to the people through leaders, who themselves subscribe to the cause and participate in an organisation dedicated to realising the cause. Because leadership is hierarchical, the Great Leader is considered to be the living embodiment of the Cause.

What is a revolution, anyway? The physical meaning of this word refers to a circular motion in full circle. As a believer in the monosemy of language, the social meaning should bear relation to this circular motion, which can refer to shifts in the balance of power between antagonistic entities, such as the people vs. the government. Each revolution moves the power to the government back to the people, who then end up forming a new government that holds that power until the next revolution.

But revolutions are not the only way to move sociopolitical power among groups. In mature societies, the Constitution acts as a set of legal givens that help ensure that the Values of the Cause are carried over to the legal system. Thus, the people's (supposed) vision is transferred to the government, and usually ensures continuous feedback from people into the functioning of the government. There are many ways of feeding back into the government in mature societies, from voting to lobbying to demonstrating to striking. Social engines such as the free press, labour unions, the media, help organize the people's masses into coherent political decision makers and actors.

Unfortunately, in immature societies, these factors are not present and thus the people do not have the ability to exercise that power. Inhibiting factors such as dictatorship, illiteracy, dire economic state, social diseases, all stand in the way of empowering the people to participate in the running of their country. In those situations, what can be the best hope, short of a miracle? Back to square zero.