Most political scientis have always understood that regimes fail when the ruling classes are devided. You don't need 80s era anything to make it work. And you d

Most political scientis have always understood that regimes fail when the ruling classes are devided. You don't need 80s era anything to make it work. And you don't need to be as Brutal as North Korea is. Its very rare that people overthrwo the government, and even then, its mostly because most of the ruling classes don't try to stop it. That's the difference between Soviet and the Peoples Republic. In one, the army came out and stopped people, in the others it didn't. The other alternative is replacement by of forign actor of some kind. Either military, or by influencing the local elites.