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Political revolution
By class Bourgeois Communist Counter-revolutionary Democratic Proletarian
By other characteristic Colour From above Nonviolent Passive Permanent Social Wave
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Examples English Atlantic American Brabant Liège French Haitian Spanish American Serbian Greek 1820 1830 July Belgian Texas 1848 Italian states February German Hungarian Eureka Bulgarian unification Philippine Iranian First Second Young Turk Mexican Chinese Xinhai Communist Cultural 1917–1923 Russian German Siamese Spanish August Guatemalan Hungarian (1956) Cuban Rwandan Nicaraguan Argentine Carnation Saur People Power 1989 Yogurt Velvet Romanian Singing Bolivarian Bulldozer Rose Orange Tulip Kyrgyz Arab Spring Tunisian Egyptian Yemeni Euromaidan Second Arab Spring Sudanese
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A revolution from above refers to major political and social changes that are imposed by an élite on the population it dominates. It usually occurs in urban areas in a capital city. By contrast, the plain term "revolution" suggests that pressure from below is a major driving force in events, even if other social groups cooperate with—or ultimately capture—the movement. The phrase "revolution from above" was coined by the Spanish writer Joaquín Costa (1846-1911) in the 19th century. In contrast, a "revolution from below" refers to a grassroots campaign against élites. Johann Gottlieb Fichte advocated the right of revolution, particularly from above rather than below.

Examples

• Enlightened absolutism in 18th-century Europe
• The Constitution of the German Confederation (1871) and the formation of the German Empire
• Stalin's Collectivization of agriculture
• De-Stalinization under Nikita Khrushchev
• Great Purge in the Soviet Union under Stalin
• German reunification
• White Revolution in Iran
• Kemalism

See also

• Revolution from Above: Military Bureaucrats and Development in Japan, Turkey, Egypt, and Peru, a 1978 book written by Ellen Kay Trimberger
• Passive revolution – a similar concept associated with Antonio Gramsci

References

1. Stanley G. Payne, The Franco Regime, p. 10
2. Beiser, Frederick (2016), James, David; Zöller, Günter (eds.), "Fichte and the French Revolution", The Cambridge Companion to Fichte, Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 38–64, doi:10.1017/9781139027557.004, ISBN 978-0-521-47226-5, retrieved 2023-12-27

• Political ideologies
• Revolution terminology