In older countries outside the USA, how long did it take before the people rose up and took a bad government into their own hands?

This isn't always the case.
It's more natural when there's a dictatorship, but not when the government is duly elected. With reference to the recent Arab Uprisings.
That would be covered by due process.

Of course this doesn't rule out a coup d'état (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat) against the government of the day..