Under What Circumstances, If Any, Might Revolution Be Justified?

The word revolution holds many connotations and implications, for it has been continuously evolving in a political sense since the beginning of societal structures and governments. However, in its more modern sense, revolution suggests dramatic episodes of political change, where a collective force recognizes the need for a change and is able to take action to create this in order to remove what they consider to be the impurities of the system, and replace it with what is presumed to be necessary. Revolutions can take many forms, varying between social and political, and violent and peaceful, yet while revolutions in this modern sense are deliberate acts, either violent or otherwise, against a given government, they can, under certain circumstances, be justified. Revolutions can most commonly be justified when the majority of the people under a government determine that there is a desperate need for change; when they are necessary for the stabilization of the state; and when the governing body deviates from its duty to protect the people and the state.
The justifications of revolution presented by various political theorists often refer to the establishment that is being overthrown and the reasons provided for the dissatisfaction shown towards the established power. This dissatisfaction may be the result of numerous things such as the failure of the government to act in accordance to what the majority feels is suitable, the government 's failure to act in the best interest of the people, or the government 's failure to maintain a state of stable economy and general well-being of the people. It is often suggested that the government of a society is primarily designed to protect both the state and the people of that state, thus placing a duty, or responsibility on the government to adhere to the desires of its people. This view that the governing body maintains a responsibility to both its people and its state, is a notion frequently put forth by various political

Bibliography: 1. Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the revolution in France, Penguin Classics, London, 1986. 2. Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government, 3. Marx, Karl. & Engels, Friedrich. The Communist Manifesto, Penguin Classics, London, 1967. 4. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract, Penguin Classics, London, 1968.