Positive Impact of Rebellion, Free Essay in Political Science

Rebellion has been viewed for a long time negatively, but it has had the most influence on the key change in the world. Rebellion is the act of refusal of obedience or order of any authority (Petersen 5). Moreover, it is the act of violence or open resistance to an established government or ruler. Most renowned countries that have the best governance and economic stability once rebelled against their colonizers and pursued independence. According to history, rebellion played a major role in the way the countries rose to self-governance (Roberts 15). Therefore, this paper shall focus on the past happenings that show how rebellion has the most influence on change.

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Marshall, Peter. British India and The Great Rebellion. BBC, 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2011

In this article, the author, Professor Marshall explains about the great rebellion of the Indians towards their colonial master, the British. Years before the rebellion, the grip of Britains hand of colonization was still heavy on the Indians. The British were in full control of the major towns such as Calcutta, Bombay, from where they coordinated all activities taking place in every corner of India.

Despite the vastness of the control of the British, they had inadequate in terms of military personnel. The Britain government had lured the powerful Bengal army from the northern India, who were often used in fighting missions by the British. The British also had displaced the Indian landowners who felt they had been robbed of their ancestral inheritance. The Indian peasant farmers were also subjected to high taxation among other injustices, which piled on the hatred of the Indians towards the British.

The injustices led to the start of the great rebellion in May 1857, when Bengal soldiers shot their British officer. The occurrence encouraged rebellion by Indians in different towns. The move to take power from the British intensified through the consistent rebellion of the Indian civilians. However, the acts led to massive blood shades across the country, where innocent women and children lost their lives. The Indians who are conservative, never relented on the fight for freedom as they disregarded the traditions of the British that had been imposed on them.

Finally, the consistency of the rebellion managed to put down the colonial rule of the British. The Indian society, as a result, changed more rapidly with key projects being put in place. The Indians imported the Technology of the British, which helped in the construction of the great railway system, where 28000 miles of track had been laid down by 1904. The agriculture sector in the country also received a boost, since the land under irrigation was doubled in less than two century after the British left. The projects helped in raising the economy of the country. All these benefits came only after the attempt of rebellion had sent away the colonial master.

Annear, Robyn. Nothing but Gold: The Diggers of 1852. Melbourne, Australia: Text Pub, 1999. Print.

Robyn narrates the story of the Golddiggers rebelled against the colonial rule in Eureka Stockade. The author brings out the plight of the miners who were tirelessly working in the mines yet their lives were unadvisable. Their employees never compensated the state of the miners and dangers they got exposed to. Instead, the miners lived in the mud of winter and the dust of summer according to Robyn. The women and children of the miners lived a disgraced life, as in the nearby shanties where they sought shelter. The men that labored in the mines on returning from their jobs could only afford to spend the night at the shanties where the flies feed on their blood. The colonial ruler had barred the Australians from getting licenses to mine even despite the area being rich in minerals. The miners more so, are mistreated by the colonial supervisors who even beat the workers to death. These suffering encountered by the miners led to the uprising of the rebellion, which pushed for the abolition of the mining license, and the right to vote for all men, which were prohibited by the colonial government.

The diggers decided to rebel against the colonial master and took an oath to fight the police and the military if they are stopped in their course. As a result of the rebellion, 125miners were arrested, 28men killed in the process. Their colonial ruler opposed the diggers' attempt of rebellion through the use of police and the military but they never up. As a result of their determination despite the blockades, the miners ended up getting the mining license. The change of the law to allow the natives to own mines led to rapid growth of the country since the diggers become empowered financially. The miners also were adamant in the push for all men to be allowed to vote. This was a great step in attaining freedom from the colonial master. Therefore, the miners act of violence against the colonial rule shaped the countrys economy while it also turned around the; political status of the country.

Chandler, DiMarkco Stephen. 'The Boxer Rebellion: The Struggle For Power, Influence, And Territory.' SSRN Electronic Journal n. pag. Web.

The Boxer Rebellion describes rebellion of the Chinese against the dominance of the foreigners on its soil in the 19th century. The western power and Japan had forced China to accept the wide foreign control over the countrys economic affairs. Previously, China had fought to resist the foreigners, but it lacked a modernized military hence suffered millions of causalities in its attempts. By the late 1890s, the Society of Righteous and Harmonized Fist, a Chinese secret group, had started carrying out attacks on foreigners. The society believed that by killing the foreigners they would be immune to the bullets, an act that made foreigner refer to them as boxers. At this time, China had given territories, and commercial areas to the European nations and the boxers blamed their poor standard of living on the foreigners who were colonizing their country.

In 1900, the Boxer movement moved to the Beijing area where they killed foreigners and destroyed their property. The movement targeted the foreign diplomats with an aim of reducing the dominance of foreigners in the country. The rebellion led to the death of hundreds of foreigners, and the western countries sent approximately 20000 troops from eight countries to rescue the remaining foreigners in China.

After a tough struggle between the Boxers and the foreign troops, the Boxer rebellion ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol on September 7, 1901. The protocol directed the Chinese government officials involved in the uprising punished. In addition, the foreign nations were permitted to station troops in Beijing for their defense, and China was prohibited from importing arms for two years.

The rebellion, in this case, might have been ill intended to cause harm, but it ended up making China a receptive country. The rebellion cleared the notion that the foreigners were evil, and they deserved death. Therefore, the Boxer rebellion led to the restoration of harmony between China and the western nations.

The Africans rebelled against enslavement during the days of the transatlantic slave trade. The slave trade in 1400 was at its high levels, where the slave trade merchants exported cheap labor from African countries to the European countries. The abduction of Africans was on the rise, and no one could trace their whereabouts. The slaves were being used as an instrument of providing labor to the plantations in the foreign countries.

Due to the increase cases of Africans enslavement, African leaders started to champion the end of the slave trade. The leader wrote to the countries supporting slave trade to end the illegal depopulation of the continent of Africa. The leaders in different African countries joined hands to ban the slave trade in their territories. For instance, the religious leader of Futa Jallon wrote a letter to the British slave traders threatening death to anyone who tries to procure slaves in his country.

The rebellion of African people, against the inhuman act of slavery, piled pressure on the foreign country. As a result, the foreign countries started to impose the ban on the slave trade within its territories. Therefore, the rebellion by African against slave trade changed the perception that was created by the whites, that Africans were the instrument of labor. The rebellion restored the dignity accorded to the Africans people by the people from other continents.

Weede, Erich, and Edward N. Muller. "Rebellion, Violence and Revolution: A Rational Choice Perspective." Journal of Peace Research 35.1 (1998): 4359. Web

This article identifies there are many rebellions and investigates the relative frequencies of elite and mass rebellions. Rational choice strives to explain elite rebellion and deprivation approach as it relates to small and large rebellion. The force of rebellion is not intensified by the numbers of the group but rather by the issues that led to the rebellion. The article also notes that a small number of rebellions are related to military issues. This is mainly because of the discipline that is instilled in the soldiers during recruitment training on how to obey the orders and not being rebellious to the ruling authority (Roberts 68). However, if the military is defeated its most likely provoked to rebel against the forces that tend to suppress its operations, thus demeaning its role.

The article also cites that religious beliefs are critical to rallying support for a rebellion. Most followers or supporters are likely to be more committed to the activities of the rebellion if it depicts or inclines on religious belief or political beliefs.

As discussed in the above case studies of the rebellions. It is, therefore, clear that rebellion should never be equated with evil since mostly it is aimed at bringing equality among the people in the society (Petersen 89). Rebellion also plays an important role in facing out the old regime in a country. Moreover, the role of rebellion in influencing change is indisputable and cannot be ignored or suppressed. Rebellion speaks of the evil done to others in the society in actions that sometimes restructure the governance of the culpable leaders in the different states (Roberts 50).

Works Cited

Annear, Robyn. Nothing but Gold: The Diggers of 1852. Melbourne, Australia: Text Pub, 1999. Print.

Bartusevicius, Henrikas. "The inequalityconflict nexus re-examined Income, education, and popular rebellions." Journal of Peace Research 51.1 (2014): 35-50.

Chandler, DiMarkco Stephen. 'The Boxer Rebellion: The Struggle For Power, Influence, And Territory.' SSRN Electronic Journal n. pag. Web.

Marshall, Peter. British India and The Great Rebellion. BBC, 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.

Petersen, Roger Dale. Resistance And Rebellion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.

Roberts, Nora. Rebellion. Detroit: Wheeler Pub., 2007. Print.

Weede, Erich, and Edward N. Muller. "Rebellion, Violence and Revolution: A Rational Choice Perspective." Journal of Peace Research 35.1 (1998): 4359. Web