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Article: Revolution!
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- October 9, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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It was an Age of Revolutions. Some failed, most succeeded. But
the years from 1986 to 1996, which saw so much change across the
world, transformed our understanding of what a revolution is.
Revolution, says the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, is
either "a complete overthrow of the established government. . . by
those who were previously subject to it" or "a forcible substition
of a new ruler or form of government". In other words, a
revolution can be a popular uprising or a palace coup, and a degree
of violence or upheaval seems essential for an event to qualify as
revolutionary.
The definitions must surely be updated, for neither does justice
to the fashion in which revolutions unfolded ...