For me, there is no one set model of a revolution, but rather revolutions can occur along a spectrum, each with its own subset of a laundry list of ingredients, though all, regardless of particulars, seek to radically upend the existing framework of cultural, social, economic and/or political relations in favor of another — whether or not the revolution actually does so, is a matter of its success or failure. The following is a very basic definition of the extreme points of the revolutionary spectrum, and so is neither fully comprehensive nor fully fleshed out, but I think hits at what I see as the main points defining the boundaries of the revolutionary spectrum.

At one extreme is revolution as a particular and distinct strain of a social movement, either imposed top-down by elites or brought about from the bottom-up through public participation (how much can vary), in which there is no violence and which does not necessarily, but can, involve transitions of power (through nonviolent means). Revolutionary social movements nevertheless aim to radically transform the existing regime infrastructure and broader society through peaceful means. At the other end of the spectrum, is revolution as a particular form of civil war (a revolutionary civil war, some might say), whereby there is extreme, all-consuming violence (perhaps total warfare) between various groups contending to be sole sovereigns over a regime – which will be subject to radical transformation as a group is able to consolidate (or re-consolidate) their hegemony over the other contending groups. The rate of (active) popular participation in the extreme case of the revolutionary social movement is likely to be less than in the extreme case of the revolutionary civil war. While there are other variables that surely come into play – demographics of the revolutionaries, urban or rural-based, particular historical conditions, current context of the pre-revolutionary state (i.e. how “transitioned” is it – agrarian, semi-agrarian, semi-industrialized; weak state, strong state; etc.), etc. – these are, in my mind at least, variables of revolutions that likely effect the direction and nature of the revolution, but not the definition of what revolution is itself.