The specter of secession suddenly haunts Ukraine and Thailand, two countries where demonstrators have uncompromisingly battled corrupt or unresponsive rulers. Militant protests have set off chain reactions that may result in the fracturing of national territories and the creation of new states in what are now eastern Ukraine and northeast Thailand.

Elsewhere, in India as well as in Egypt, anarchic forms of politics also seem to be prevailing. Apparently, all political institutions and processes must now bow to the will of "the people," a category that seems more specious than ever as previously impassive masses enter political life.

Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of India's Aam Aadmi ("Common Man") Party, who reigned for a tumultuous few weeks as Delhi's chief minister, clarifies the demands of today's freshly awakened people in his book "Swaraj" ("Self-Rule"):