Political "spring" is a term popularized in the late twentieth century to refer to any of a number of

student protest Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academi ...

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

ary political movements or revolutionary waves. It originated in the European

Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

, which was sometimes referred to as the "Spring of Nations" or "Springtime of the Peoples". *

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

, a period of

political liberalization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

of the

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...

in 1968 *

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

, a 1971 movement for Croatian language rights and cultural identity in the

second Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

* Beijing Spring, a period of political liberalization in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the late 1970s * Seoul Spring, a period of democratization in South Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s *Rangoon Spring, sometimes used to describe the period leading up to the August 8, 1988 "8888" Uprising * Kathmandu Spring, sometimes used to describe the 1990 People's Movement in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, as well as subsequent democratic movements. *Tehran Spring, sometimes used to describe the period in Iran during the 1997–2005 presidency of

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to 1992. Later, he was critic ...

* Damascus Spring, period in Syria following the death of

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

in 2001 * Cedar Spring was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon (especially in the capital Beirut) triggered by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005. *Harare Spring, sometimes used to describe the period in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

after the 2008 power sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe and

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democrati ...

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

, another term for the Middle East—North Africa protest of 2010–2014 *Riyadh Spring, sometimes used to describe the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests. *The 2012 Quebec student protests movement is also called the 'Maple' Spring, from the French "" which sounds phonetically similar to "" (Arab Spring). "Printemps Québécois" for "Quebec Spring" is also used. *The 2012 Valencia student protests, also called . In February 2012 the students of the Lluís Vives High school participated in several demonstrations to protest against the cutbacks in the educational budgets of the Valencian Autonomous Community. The police’s performance in those demonstrations was extremely controversial and appeared in many international media. This sparked the interest of Parents Associations and both Student and

International organisations An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own leg ...

, such as

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. The documentary Spanish Teen Rally collect the testimony of Valencian Spring's students. *Venezuelan Spring, sometimes used to describe the 2014 Venezuelan protests. *Russian Spring, sometimes used to describe the

2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine From the end of February 2014, in the aftermath of the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the ousting of Russian-leaning President of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, demonstrations by Russian-backed, ...

. * Latin American spring, sometimes used to describe mass protest events that took place in Latin America between 2019 and 2022.

External links

{{Reflist Political terminology