instigate

To instigate is to be the one who starts something happening. Instigate a review, instigated the attack, who instigated it.

It is nearly always used of bad things — instigating violence, a quarrel, a plot — and in law, instigating an offence makes you party to it. British official writing also uses it neutrally for setting up a process. Note that the Latin means to goad, from stinguere, to prick.