Eight Stages: A Primer on Modern Revolution
A clear, nonpartisan roadmap to understanding
how revolutions really work.
Preface: Why This Book, Why Now
Revolution isn’t a museum piece; it’s a living process. It unfolds both in the open and in the shadows, not only in faraway capitals but also in your city and your state.
The goal of this book is practical clarity: to define the phenomenon, separate it from adjacent concepts, and provide a map, the Eight Stage Theory, for recognizing where a society stands within a revolutionary cycle and what can be done to reduce susceptibility to violent upheaval.
Because there is always a revolution on the horizon.
Somewhere in the world, at any given time, there are groups of people who believe they can govern better if only given the opportunity. They gather the discontented and persuade them that their lack of money, power, or status is not accidental, and that peaceful change merely preserves the existing order.
Equally, there are always those who believe the ship of state is headed for an iceberg, and that conventional, peaceful attempts to change course are already doomed.
Revolutionaries, regardless of personal political leanings, conclude that existing social and political norms cannot deliver the change they seek, and that the governing structure itself must be dismantled. In many revolutions, these beliefs are sincerely held and sometimes justified. Yet in most cases, early revolutionaries fail to achieve lasting change. Radicals, however, often succeed in framing traditionalists as obstacles to progress and in emphasizing the symbolic power of protest, even when demonstrations escalate into violence.
This book does not attempt to diagnose the psychology of violence or nihilism. That is a separate and valuable field of study. Instead, I act as a navigator of the revolutionary process itself, focusing not on individual motivations but on the recurring structure through which revolutions unfold.
This book is particularly relevant in late 2025 because we find ourselves in the latter stages of at least one revolutionary cycle, perhaps more, whose escalation is not inevitable, but whose risks are real. Communication, empathy, and timely action still matter.
Where prior frameworks are discussed, they are presented in their strongest form and cited to primary sources.
Section I – The Eight Stages in Practice
Chapter 1 – What is a Revolution and What is Not?
Revolutions are often described as explosions: sudden, violent ruptures that occur without warning. History and popular entertainment are full of such images, showing crowds in the streets, toppled statues, and burning buildings. These repeated images reinforce the idea that revolutions are chaotic, emotional, and ultimately unpredictable.
That impression is misleading.
While revolutionary moments may appear suddenly, the processes that produce them are slow, structured, and remarkably consistent. Revolutions emerge from long-term structural strain, pass through recognizable and definable phases, and follow patterns that repeat across time, geography, and ideology. They are not accidents. They are processes.