Change is a natural phenomenon and in all ages change occurs, but the modem world is distinguished by the rapidity and extent of change. Change in the methods of communication, in economic, social and political life.
What happens in New York, Cairo or Sydney can be witnessed instantaneously in London or New Delhi, or read about in newspapers in a matter of hours or of minutes. Change is all around us and its quality and quantity produces increasingly unanticipated future.
Even in the physical environment, where certain stability might be expected, the speed of the process has increased. True, the landmass remains constant or changes little, but changes that occur in the physical environment generally are largely the result of changes in population, in the economy and in the technology and these are rapid.
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A population explosion will affect the need man has to change his environment by affecting the life of the road surfaces, the speed at which houses degenerate into slums and many other matters.
Adaptation to these needs may lead to changes in the methods of production and distribution, leading to further changes in the physical environment, with additional effects on the economic and other social arrangements and leading to the formulation of new ideas about what social organisation is or ought to be.
All these factors give rise to political change, for the process by which public policy is arrived at, and the policy itself, is essentially affected by physical and social alterations and politicians, political institutions and political ideas interact on the world around them.
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As with other types of change, the political may differ in extent, direction and speed. All these notions must be taken care of while considering distinctions between reform and revolution.