I think it's not that different in democratic countries. Change comes about when enough people demand it and put pressure on their representatives. People have to be motivated to work together in large groups, since three letters demanding the same thing won't impress anyone, but a few thousand might. The work of lobbyists has to be countered, corruption has to be documented and brought to court, where hard evidence is a necessity. It takes lot of very demanding, hard work, without any direct gratification for a long time.
LulzSec/Antisec/Anonymous do nothing to help with that work. Instead, I fear that their actions will be used by politicians like Sarkozy to effect a policy of stronger internet regulation. In the end, these hacker groups might even do harm.