For the '"People Power Revolution" in the Philippines, see People Power Revolution.

"People power" is a political term used chiefly to describe the driving force of any popular social revolution

Social revolution

The term social revolution may have different connotations depending on the speaker.In the Trotskyist movement, the term "social revolution" refers to an upheaval in which existing property relations are smashed...

 instigated by wide-ranging and genuine massive street demonstrations, work stoppages and general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

s whose primary aim is to overthrow an existing government and/or political system, and features everyday people (rather than an armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...

 coup d'etat

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 or similar) as the driving force in this rebellion. Such "people power" may be nonviolent or violent in nature, or may begin as nonviolent and turn violent, such as eventually happened in Libya in 2011

2011 Libyan civil war

The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...

.

The term as currently defined was first used in the Philippines in 1986, during the revolt that
toppled the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. The word is derived from the 1960's flower power movement against the Vietnam War.