Editing Gradualism (section)

== Politics and society ==
{{Social democracy sidebar |Development}}

In [[politics]], gradualism is the hypothesis that social change can be achieved in small, discrete increments rather than in abrupt strokes such as [[revolution]]s or [[rebellion|uprisings]]. Gradualism is one of the defining features of political [[liberalism]] and [[reformism]].<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=903 | title=Left reformism, the state and the problem of socialist politics today | author=Paul Blackledge | year=2013 | publisher=International Socialist Journal | access-date=14 November 2013}}</ref> [[Machiavelli|Machiavellian]] politics pushes politicians to espouse gradualism.

Gradualism in [[social change]] implemented through [[reformist]] means is a moral principle to which the [[Fabian Society]] is committed. In a more general way, [[reformism]] is the assumption that gradual changes through and within existing institutions can ultimately change a [[society]]'s fundamental [[economic system]] and political structures; and that an accumulation of reforms can lead to the emergence of an entirely different economic system and form of society than present-day [[capitalism]]. That hypothesis of social change grew out of opposition to [[revolutionary socialism]], which contends that [[revolution]] is necessary for fundamental structural changes to occur.

In [[socialism|socialist politics]] and within the socialist movement, the concept of gradualism is frequently distinguished from reformism, with the former insisting that short-term goals need to be formulated and implemented in such a way that they inevitably lead into long-term goals. It is most commonly associated with the [[libertarian socialist]] concept of dual power and is seen as a middle way between reformism and [[revolutionary socialism|revolutionism]].

[[Martin Luther King Jr.]] was opposed to the idea of gradualism as a method of eliminating [[racial segregation in the United States|segregation]]. The United States government wanted to try to integrate [[African-American]]s and European-Americans slowly into the same society, but many believed it was a way for the government to put off actually doing anything about racial segregation:

{{blockquote|This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.|Martin Luther King Jr.'s "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech, delivered August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web|last1=King|first1=Martin Luther|author-link1=Martin Luther King Jr.|title=I have a dream speech|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1951-/martin-luther-kings-i-have-a-dream-speech-august-28-1963.php|access-date=1 November 2015|date=August 28, 1963}}</ref>}}

===Conspiracy theories===
In the terminology of [[New World Order (conspiracy theory)#Gradualism|NWO]]-related speculations, gradualism refers to the gradual implementation of a [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] [[world government]].