Rebellion or Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rebellion or Revolution - Essay Example In this paper I will take a specific position on the two concepts and aim to define each one of them. There have been numerous revolution and rebellions in the past. There has been confusion to some extent in terming an event a rebellion or a revolution. Numerous authors, researchers, historians, have all tried to establish a difference between a rebellion and a revolution. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to establish the difference between the two by taking a specific position on each. In order to do so, I have fallen back on the work of other scholars and some real life examples from the past. First, I will define each of them individually and then try to establish the difference between the two. According to me, a rebellion is an act of protesting or defying the higher authority. In most cases rebellion is a protest or against an ideology, requirement or a restriction. Through a rebellion, an attempt is made at changing a part of a system (for example part of a governme nt). A rebellion is always associated with a negative attitude if not a destructive one. Rebellions lack a proper direction and in most cases lack an affirmative program. Rebellion in most cases is associated with violence. Brinkley (2010) in his article points how to rebellion attitude is associated with negative emotions. But a rebellion is not always violent and negative. But a rebellion is an aggressive attempt to walk away from the routine and the accepted. Rebellion is a fight against the flaws or loopholes in a system that is accepted by majority of the society. It is aimed at changing or refining a part of the system. Rebellion is not associated with majority of the population but is supported only by a few. Hence, the scale of a rebellion is small. A rebellion unlike the common belief can be both violent and non-violent. Example of violent rebellion is rebellion against the Gaddafi government in Libya. A very good example of a non-violent rebellion is the protest by Gandhi against the injustice SA against the Indians. This is very well depicted in the 1982 movie Gandhi (Gandhi, 1982). This is will addressed again later. A revolution on the other hand is much larger in scale and is aimed at overthrowing the entire system or bringing in a major change in the way a system works. A revolution is associated with a positive attitude and is supported by majority of the society. As a result of a revolution there is a fundamental change being brought about with respect to power in a system. Revolution is mainly associated with political change and is much shorter with respect to duration but on a much bigger scale than a rebellion. A revolution brings in a major reform and attracts huge support from different quarters of the society. World has seen numerous revolutions in the past which has resulted in a total change. A revolution can be both violent and non-violent but it is always associated with positive emotion. Russian revolution was a violent revolution which bought a major political change in Russia while the Indian independence movement was a non-violent revolution which got India freedom. Now that the definitions and concepts of the two have been established, let’s see how they are different from each other. To put in a simplest way, revolution is born put of a rebellion. Rebellion is on a smaller scale and is aimed at showing discontent about the system while revolution is aimed at completely overthrowing a system. Rebellion is a narrow domain while revolution is a much broader field. A rebellion becomes a revolution when it gains momentum and realize its capability to bring in change on a large scale. A rebellion can happen at a individual level and might consider individual interests or interests of a small section of the society. Rebellion attitudes are