Howard Brazee <howard at brazee.net> wrote: On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 12:05:25 -0800, megan loughran wrote: >> Overall, I'd say assassination alone is not a particularly effective way > to enact policy change... I think most assassinations come about as a > result of single individuals or small groups of individuals (or military > coups) which are not largelyl representative of majority opinions. If > enough members of a society are not in support of the change in > policy/government, short of forceful take-over by the assassinating > party, a meaningful form of social/policy change is not likely to be > achieved by assassination alone. If people are not ready for a change > in the status quo, even if a leader is killed, he/she will most likely > just be replaced by someone similar. >I think you're thinking of ours society today where the ruler has to have the consent of the ruled. In a strong dictatorship, a prince might assassinate the king, take over, and make significant policy changes. Because it doesn't matter what others think. Is regicide the same thing as assasination?