Why Elon Musk is Wrong

February 26, 2023
In this short #UkraineWorldAnalysis thread we explain why Elon Musk is wrong. 
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American businessman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk called the Revolution of Dignity a "coup", echoing Russian narratives. J. Goldstone conceptualized an eight-part model that visualizes the code and nature of social transformations, including:

  • widespread elite and popular belief that the state is ineffective, unjust, illegitimate or outdated;
  • uprising of the elite against the state;
  • popular uprising against the state and elite power;
  • widespread violence or civil war;
  • change of political institutions;
  • change in the status and power of traditional elites (mainly landowners in agrarian societies);
  • change in basic forms of economic organization and ownership;
  • changing the symbols and beliefs that justify the distribution of power, status and wealth.

In the case of the presence of a certain factor, we decode it with a 1, in its absence - with a 0.

Thus, the formula of the Revolution of Dignity looks like 11101111 and semantically reflects the essence of the concept of "revolution", not a coup (01000000), an elite revolution (11001111) or a civil war (1111 xxxxx, where x=1, or x=0)

In the tradition of P. Shtompka, we can say that the events of 2013-2014 were not a coup d'état, because by definition a coup is a conspiracy of a minority, like the Palace coup. It was not a riot or a rebellion, because the result had nothing to do with violently conducted reforms. This was not a putsch, because certain demands were articulated, and the overthrow of the regime did not take place under the leadership of the Armed Forces. This was not a civil war, where the emphasis of the conflict is on the cleavage of social associations of a religious or ethnic nature.

Therefore, the events of 2013-2014 should be classified as the revolution, because there were qualitative changes in the political, social, and cultural contexts.

DARIA SYNHAIEVSKA, ANALYST AND JOURNALIST AT UKRAINEWORLD

This material was prepared with financial support from the International Renaissance Foundation.