How does Kuwait follow the stages of Edmund Burke's Theory of Modern Revolutions - Essay Example

How Kuwait Followed the Stages of Edmund Burke’s Theory of Modern Revolution Introduction To begin with, Dreyer described Edmund Burke as a key philosophical founder of modern conservatism and a representative of classical liberalism who is best known for his steadfast opposition to the French revolution (462-479). Based on his reflections on the French revolution, Edmund Burke developed a theory on stages that modern revolutions follow (Clark, 171-184). The objective of this present study if to validate the Edmund’s theory by showing how Kuwait as a case study has followed through the first stage of the modern revolutions and how it has been able to avoid the other three stages of modern revolution.

How Kuwait follow the stages of Edmund Burke’s Theory of Modern Revolutions Edmund Burke’s theory of modern revolution relates with the Socratic dialogue known as “The Republic,” which was written by Plato who was a renowned Ancient Greek Philosopher who made significant contributions towards intellectual and historical works of political theory and philosophy. In the Socratic dialogue, Plato argued that there are five forms of government and that there is a consistent metamorphosis that occurs on governments as years goes by.

Plato’s Socratic dialogue substantiates the Edmund’s theory on the fact that Plato argue that a government normally transform to an oligarchy form of government, which is made up of people who love money and therefore corrupt. This form of government normally attracts many critics who then plot to overthrow the government and fight off those who support the government in order to restore democracy within the country (Santas, 45-47). Plato argued that after freedom has been achieved through the overthrow of an oligarchy government, there would be need to regulate the extent of freedom by instituting stringent regulations that will prevent another uprising and this will lead to fall of democracy and rebirth of dictatorship.

Sheldon stated that the chronological evolution of different forms of government as stipulated by Plato resembles the stages of modern revolution that were presented by Edmund (89-101). Moreover, Lynch stated that the theories presented by Edmund and Plato best explains the Arab uprisings and in particular the 2011 to 2013 Kuwait revolution (243-245). According to Lynch, the roots of the Kuwait protests can be traced back to early 2011 when the Emri of Kuwait gave out $3,580 and free food grant for one year to Kuwait citizens as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of independence and 20 years since the liberation of the country from Iraqi forces.

However, what caused the protest was the fact that the Emir of Kuwait sidelined the Stateless Bedoun who were living in Kuwait, and this caused an uproar among these people who then staged protests across the country through the support of the opposition (67-78). The opposition leaders in the country propagated the issue and gained widespread support for the uprising against the current government. Subsequently, Emir of Kuwait yielded to the protestors’ plea and instituted various government reforms that began with a fresh election in order for the people to elect new leaders who will address their problems (Lynch, 81-85).

The Kuwait revolution was able to undergo only the first stage of the modern revolution theory because of the fact that through the reforms the government had addressed most of the issues that had caused the uprising. Moreover, the new elections gave people the opportunity to elect their own new leaders and therefore, the new leaders spoke against any form of opposition that could divide the country. In addition, after the reforms, the government arrested some key opposition leaders in order to weaken the spirit of the opposition (Lynch, 93-95).

Work’s CitedClark, Jonathan. Reflections on the Revolution in France. A Critical Edition. California, U.S Stanford University Press. 2001 PrintDreyer, Fredrick. The Genesis of Burke’s Reflections,’ The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 50, No. 3. 1978 PrintLynch, Marc. The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East. New York, U.S : Perseus Books Group. 2013Santas, Gerasimos. Understanding Plato’s Republic. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. 2011 Print Sheldon, Garrett.

The History of Political Theory: Ancient Greece to Modern America. American University Studies, Political Science. 2003 Print