@Owl @matty @Turdicus it does work more like that than you'd think. Its a mental process in people; For example - people ok with a day or two of no power will start getting crazy on day 5.

But yes, if people started destroying infrastructure that immediately sets the clock started. But - even in democratic states, this would be more chaos than they want ( they would personally be afraid ) and thus they would be more ready to have curfews and such.