At the time of the Latin American revolutions, media such as television and the internet didn’t exist. This is in sharp contrast to the Arab Spring revolutions where media mediums such as social media was used to air the public’s discontentment with the oppression and the economic woes of the country. The role of social media was also crucial because it allowed the activists to organize rallies, protests, and form networks with other activists seeking democracy. This is not to say that there were no media forms in the days of the Latin American revolutions; however, the main source of inspiration for the Latin American revolutions were other revolutions that happened in the world. The world saw how the French rose up against the corrupt aristocracy and monarchy and put into practice Enlightenment values into democracy and they saw how the United States freed itself from the colonial hold of Britain and also created a constitution and democracy based on Enlightenment values. Using the other revolutions as inspiration, the creole populations of Latin America began to formulate Enlightenment ideals into cohesive and organized revolutions that would give them independence from colonial powers. It also gave the Latin American creoles hope that they could too become like America, a free and wealthy state that …show more content…
Political revolutions aren’t caused by topical events, rather the topical event(s) merely touches off the underlying resentment of the current state of the government and the nation. Political revolutions aren’t caused by one factor, but rather a complex mix of social, political, and economic factors. The people living under these oppressive conditions may see political revolutions as a way out of the current conditions for several reasons. Firstly, the people may cling to examples of other successful revolutions as inspiration to prove that revolutions can enact lasting and meaningful change to their current state. Secondly, the people may believe that the source of all of the country’s or state’s problems stems from a single political leader or party such as Ben Ali of Tunisia and the Spanish royalty in Latin America. With this mindset, they believe that an political overthrow of the current leader may lead to the resolution of the nation’s problems. Thirdly, people may cling to the idea of political revolution as a result of their frustrations and desperation. Using the example of Tunisia, the dire economic straits combined with the political oppression led to desperation amongst the citizens as other routes of rectifying the situation such as through elections and petitioning the government led to no change. This may have led the people to believe that political revolution is