Establishing the Will–Time Equilibrium Framework: Chronos, Kairos, and Collective Will in Revolutionary Transformation

Authors

  • Osama Abu Nahel Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Department of History and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Al-Azhar University - Gaza (Palestine) Author

Keywords:

Will–Time Equilibrium (WTE), Chronos and Kairos, Revolutionary Temporality, Collective Will, Political Transformation

Abstract

This study presents the Will–Time Equilibrium (WTE) framework as a perspective for understanding revolutionary transformation. It contends that revolutions cannot be fully comprehended just through structural crises, political possibilities, resource mobilization, or collective action; these factors gain explanatory relevance only when examined within the framework of their temporal progression. The framework encompasses three essential concepts: Chronos, the long-term accumulation of grievances, institutional pressures, and societal expectations; Kairos, the critical moment when historical potential becomes actionable; and collective will, the ethical, social, and organizational drive that transforms potential into political transformation. the Rather than limiting WTE to a predetermined formula, the study establishes it as a conceptual framework for examining the alignment or misalignment across many dimensions. The examination of the trajectories of Cuba in 1959, Iran in 1979, and the Arab uprisings of 2011 reveals that enduring transformation transpires only when historical accumulation, opportune timing, and coordinated collective will converge.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abbott, A. D. (2001). Time Matters: On Theory and Method. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Abrahamian, E. (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press.

Al-Jabri, M. A. (2009). Takwīn al-ʿaql al-ʿarabī [The Formation of the Arab Reason]. (10th ed.). Beirut: Center for Arab Unity Studies. [In Arabic].

Al-Kawakibi, A. (2006). Ṭabāʾiʿ al-istibdād wa-maṣāriʿ al-istiʿbād [The Nature of Despotism and the Destruction of Enslavement]. (3rd ed.). Beirut: Dar al-Nafa’is. [In Arabic].

Aminzade, R. (1992). Historical sociology and time. Sociological Methods & Research, 20(4), 456–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124192020004003

Arendt, H. (1963). On Revolution. London: Penguin Books.

Aristotle. (1984). The Complete Works of Aristotle. (Book IV. (J. Barnes edited). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Aristotle. (2004). Nicomachean Ethics. (R. Crisp Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bayat, A. (2017). Revolution without Revolutionaries: Making Sense of the Arab Spring. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Beissinger, M. R. (2007). Structure and example in modular political phenomena: The diffusion of Bulldozer/Rose/Orange/Tulip revolutions. Perspectives on Politics, 5(2), 259–276. journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1537592707070776

Bellin, E. (2012). Reconsidering the robustness of authoritarianism in the Middle East: Lessons from the Arab Spring. Comparative Politics, 44(2), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.5129/001041512798838021

Bennabi, M. (1986). Shurūṭ al-nahḍa [The Conditions of the Renaissance]. (A. Shaheen Trans.). Damascus: Dar Al Fikr for Printing, Publishing, and Distribution. [In Arabic].

Brownlee, J.; Masoud, T. & Reynolds, A. (2015). The Arab Spring: Pathways of Repression and Reform. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Durkheim, É. (1976). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. (J. W. Swat Trans.). London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

Durkheim, É. (1960). The Division of Labor in Society. (G. Simpson Trans.). Illinois: The Free Press of Glencoe.

Elias, N. (1993). Time: An Essay. Oxford; Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell Publishers.

Foran, J. (2005). Taking Power: On the Origins of Third World Revolutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goldstone, J. A. (2014). Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Goodwin, J., & Jasper, J. M. (1999). Caught in a winding, snarling vine: The structural bias of political process theory. Sociological Forum, 14(1), 27–54. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021684610881

Gott, R. (2005). Cuba: A New History. New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press.

Gurvitch, G. (1964). The Spectrum of Social Time. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company.

Hegel, G. W. F. (2001). Philosophy of Right. (S. W. Dyne Trans.). Kitchener: Batoche Books Limited.

Ibn Khaldun, A. (2001). The Muqaddimah [Ibn Khaldun's Introduction]. (Vol. 1, K. Shahada edited). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr. [In Arabic].

Koselleck, R. (2004). Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time. New York: Columbia University Press.

Kurzman, C. (2004). The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran. Cambridge, Mass. and London, England: Harvard University Press.

Mannheim, K. (1954). Ideology and Utopia. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., Inc.

McAdam, D. (1985). Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McAdam, D., Tarrow, S. & Tilly, C. (2004). Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McCarthy, J. D. & Zald, M. (1977). Resource mobilization and social movements: A Partial Theory. American Journal of Sociology. 82 (6). 1212-1241. https://doi.org/10.1086/226464

Meyer, D. S. (2004). Protest and political opportunities. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 125–145. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110545

Nietzsche, F. (2007). On the Genealogy of Morals. (Carol Diethe Trans.). Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Parsa, M. (2000). States, Ideologies, and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pearlman, W. (2013). Emotions and the microfoundations of the Arab uprisings. Perspectives on Politics, 11(2), 387–409. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592713001072

Pearlman, W. (2018). Moral identity and protest cascades in Syria. British Journal of Political Science, 48(4), 877–901. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123416000235

Pérez, L. A. (2006). Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ricoeur, P. (1984). Time and Narrative. (Vol. 1. K. McLaughlin and D. Pellauer Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rousseau, J. (1993). The Social Contract and Discourses. (G. D. H. Cole Trans.). London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

Sewell, W. H. (1996). Historical Events as Transformations of Structures: Inventing Revolution at the Bastille. Theory and Society. 25 (6). 841-881. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00159818

Sewell, W. H. (2005). Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation. University of Chicago Press.

Skocpol, T. (1979). States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, J. E. (1969). Time, Times, and the 'Right Time': Chronos and Kairos. The Monist. 53 (1). 1-13. https://doi.org/10.5840/monist196953115

Sorokin, P. (2017). Social and Cultural Dynamics: Study of Change in Major Systems of Art, Truth, Ethics, Law, and Social Relationships. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Sweig, J. E. (2002). Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Tarrow, S. G. (2011). Power in Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tilly, C. (1978). From Mobilization to Revolution. New York: Random House.

Weber, M. (1978), Economy and Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Zerubavel, E. (2003). Time Maps: Collective Memory and the Social Shape of the Past. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-17

Deprecated: json_decode(): Passing null to parameter #1 ($json) of type string is deprecated in /home/u574922478/domains/jps.pu.edu.pk/public_html/plugins/generic/citations/CitationsPlugin.php on line 68

How to Cite

Nahel, O. A. . (2026). Establishing the Will–Time Equilibrium Framework: Chronos, Kairos, and Collective Will in Revolutionary Transformation. Journal of Political Studies, 33(1), 39–59. https://jps.pu.edu.pk/6/article/view/1435

Similar Articles

21-30 of 359

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.