In political science, a revolution is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression (political, social, economic) or political incompetence.

The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle described two types of political revolution:

1.     Complete change from one constitution to another

2.     Modification of an existing constitution.

Revolutions have occurred through human history and vary widely in terms of methods, duration and motivating ideology. Their results include major changes in culture, economy and socio-political institutions, usually in response to perceived overwhelming autocracy or plutocracy.

The 2019 Lebanese protests constitute a reaction against sectarian rule, stagnant economy, unemployment, endemic corruption in the public sector, legislation (such as banking secrecy) that is perceived to shield the ruling class from accountability and failures from the government to provide basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation. The protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco and online phone calls such as through Whatsapp, as country-wide protests broke out on 17 October 2019 right after Cabinet talks of the taxes, due to be ratified by 22 October.