The Britannica Guide to Political and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World

There is strength in numbers, which is why efforts to effect change that have plenty of support and high participation rates are the most likely to succeed. Such movements are formed when people organize with the goal of putting ideas into action, often in an attempt to bring about political or social change. As many successful political and social movements through the ages have demonstrated, groups with a well-thought-out agenda and clear goals can raise civilizations to new heights or bring them down, create empires or destroy them. They can radically alter the course of a nation and the lives of its citizens.
The history and foundations of the most influential political and social movements in the world form the basis of this book. A selection of movements is covered, including a number of political philosophies—democracy, socialism, communism, fascism—that seek to define the way that people should be ruled. These are the organized concepts and beliefs that, once put into practice by dedicated interest groups, have changed the world—sometimes for the better, sometimes not. By their very nature, political and social movements deal with two main questions: How should society be organized, and what is the best way to bring about a reorganization,
if necessary? Naturally, the former question implies that the present arrangement of society is less than ideal—at least according to those people who wish to improve their lot. Methods of reorganizing society include persuasion and coercion. Persuasion involves appeals designed to sway people’s minds and attitudes through the dissemination of information. Coercion, on the other hand, involves the concrete use or threat of violence. This can be organized force such as military conquest or internal revolution, or guerrilla tactics such as those used by terrorists. Throughout history, certain political movements have become so powerful that they were able to overthrow a country’s existing government through revolution, which is the near-perfect melding of persuasion and coercion. Spurred (and persuaded) by the eloquence of fervent individuals, ordinary citizens have risen up and fought for the right to determine how they were governed. For instance, the leaders of the American and French revolutions were heavily influenced by ideas expressed in the writings of men such as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-JacquesRousseau, and Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de LaBrède et de Montesquieu. The concepts popularized by these writers, which form the basis of classical liberalism,
support the idea that people have the right to take action to improve the conditions under which they live, and that the authority of government over individuals should be limited. The spread of their ideas compelled people to take up arms against what they deemed an oppressive regime. The result of both revolutions was a move from monarchy to democracy.
Another political movement that effected radical governmental hange through revolution was the form of socialism called communism. Based on ideas proposed by a philosopher, Karl Marx, communism was formulated to address the problem of class struggle, whereby the upper class has most of the wealth while the lower classes do most of the work. The supporters of communism believed that they could better the lives of everyone if all people could be made to act for the common, rather than the individual, good. In the 20th century both Russia and China overthrew imperial regimes and ultimately instituted communist forms of government.
In contrast to the authoritarian rule of the communists, social democracy, which was adopted in countries such as the UK, provides a balance between the overarching individual freedom of classical liberalism and the igidly structured form of communism seen in the Soviet Union and China. Under this form of socialism, the government maintains control of the distribution of some resources to the populace, such as national health care, so that everyone has access to them. However, the people retain their individual freedoms and right to self-rule…………………………………