Revolutions usually succeed because a "negative coalition" forms. People who hate each other, socialists, libertarians, religious conservatives, and tech-bros, all agree on one thing: the current guy has to go.
The Success: They unite and topple the regime.
The Failure: The second the regime is gone, the "No" disappears. Now they have to decide what the "Yes" is. Because they have zero common ground on how to actually build a country, they start fighting each other, leading to gridlock or even a second, bloodier conflict.
The Institutional "Brain Drain"
When you burn down the "government stuff," you aren't just burning furniture; you're often dismantling the only administrative machinery the country has.
If you fire everyone who worked for the old regime because they are "corrupt," you suddenly have a government run by people who are passionate but have no idea how to keep the power grid running or manage a central bank.
This leads to "incompetence-driven" poverty, which can be just as bad as "corruption-driven" poverty.
Capital is a Coward
Money follows stability. A revolution, by definition, is the most unstable thing that can happen to a country.
Even if the new government is "better," the people with capital (both locals and foreigners) often wait 5–10 years to see if the new guys get overthrown too. By the time they feel safe enough to invest, the revolution has often already failed because the people got tired of being hungry.
The Success: They unite and topple the regime.
The Failure: The second the regime is gone, the "No" disappears. Now they have to decide what the "Yes" is. Because they have zero common ground on how to actually build a country, they start fighting each other, leading to gridlock or even a second, bloodier conflict.
The Institutional "Brain Drain"
When you burn down the "government stuff," you aren't just burning furniture; you're often dismantling the only administrative machinery the country has.
If you fire everyone who worked for the old regime because they are "corrupt," you suddenly have a government run by people who are passionate but have no idea how to keep the power grid running or manage a central bank.
This leads to "incompetence-driven" poverty, which can be just as bad as "corruption-driven" poverty.
Capital is a Coward
Money follows stability. A revolution, by definition, is the most unstable thing that can happen to a country.
Even if the new government is "better," the people with capital (both locals and foreigners) often wait 5–10 years to see if the new guys get overthrown too. By the time they feel safe enough to invest, the revolution has often already failed because the people got tired of being hungry.