8.2. Political change and political development

What it is? In the most general terms, these are varieties of social change, a process of social interaction.

Social changes can lead to the following consequences: changes in the system of social values; institutional change; changes in the economic system; cultural and political change.

Social changes are most clearly manifested in the economic and political spheres.

The situation of a stable equilibrium of all political factors in society is quite rare. Political institutions in the country either show the ability to adapt to new situations generated by the ongoing political processes, or they are broken down, a crisis situation is created in society. The existing political institutions, values ​​and processes taking place in the sphere of politics are in constant interaction. Thus, political change in society is a very complex phenomenon. Modern industrial societies have created a comprehensive network of institutions for managing social processes. However, it does not remain unchanged. The nature of these changes can be both evolutionary and revolutionary.

The term "revolution" came to political science from astronomy. It was originally used to refer to cyclical processes in public life. In the political lexicon, this term was fixed only after the French revolution of 1789. It means changing the composition, structure, ideological basis and functions of power by methods not authorized by the existing constitutional norms . These methods include violence against the political elite and citizens. Revolutions also lead to a relatively sudden and significant change in the distribution of wealth and social status.

In his work Politika, Aristotle wrote that the changes brought about by the revolution can be of two types, depending on whether they include a complete transition from one state structure to another or only a modification of the existing state structure.

What are the causes of revolutionary changes in public life?

There are several concepts of revolution.

The Marxist concept of revolution proceeds from the fact that history is a natural process of replacing one socio-economic formation with another — a higher one. The driving force behind this process is the conflict between the rapidly developing productive forces and the production relations lagging behind them . At a certain stage of historical development, the old production relations become a brake on the development of productive forces and must be replaced by new, more progressive ones. In the political sphere, this conflict between the productive forces and production relations is manifested in the form of class struggle. The highest form of this struggle is revolution . In its course, more advanced classes, representing progressive production relations, take power into their own hands and thus bring production relations in line with the level of development of productive forces. Such is the Marxist sociological scheme for the emergence of revolutions. It was supplemented and developed by Lenin, who proposed the concept of a revolutionary situation, the strategy and tactics of the revolutionary struggle in the specific conditions of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. This strategy and tactic was tested in three Russian revolutions and brought the Bolsheviks to power in October 1917.

The observations by V.I. Lenin on the processes in society on the eve of the revolutionary explosion, which he defined as a revolutionary situation. According to Lenin, the revolutionary situation means "a crisis of the tops" the inability of the upper to manage in a new way, the "crisis of the lower classes," ie unwillingness of the masses to live in the old way, and, as a result of the action of these two factors, the peak of the revolutionary activity of the masses.

Political analyst J. Davis gave a different from Marxist answer to the question of why revolutions occur. In his opinion, revolutions are most likely to occur at a time when the period of successful social development is replaced by a period of sharp decline . The revolutionary state of minds is preceded by a long and dynamic period of expectations related to the satisfaction of basic needs, from the purely domestic to the requirements related to social justice. The key factor, according to Davis, is a vague or clear fear that the achievements gained at the expense of long efforts can be quickly lost.

There are other explanations for the causes of revolutions in various countries. With any explanation, however, researchers note that revolutions create a huge number of problems for the state, deprivation and trials for the people. A revolution is always a bloody tragedy that somehow slows down the economic and social development of a country . In modern conditions, revolutionary changes are fraught with even more dangerous consequences associated with the existence of very dangerous weapons, nuclear power plants, chemical plants, etc. That is why the needs of modernization of social relations and institutions that exist in a particular country are best addressed through political and economic development.