The ISSUE REVOLUTION.
Reviews on FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY from Gene Sharp
Brief Introduction from Hugo Adan, 12-08-2013
This is about the VIDEO How
to Start a Revolution exhibited in Free
Speech –TV this morning. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=P3dN4ln9lzI OR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3dN4ln9lzI
OR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1XbyFv51k http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Vk1XbyFv51k
Why local resistance is easily coopted n kidnapped by foreign
mercenaries who claim R2P or humane reason to invade and destroy entire
nation-states as it happen in Libya and Syria? This issue was not addressed
by Gene Sharp, the American inventor of spontaneous revolutions
like the Egyptian one.
Perhaps because Gene Sharp Knew that these revolutions are easy with dictators on “rouge regimes” like
Allende in Chile or Assad in Syria. He
knew that Qatar, Saudi and Israel, are dictatorial regimes, but his speech
on non-violent revolutions do not fit with the plans of Pentagon, CIA n nor NATO. These are the actors
who decide which “non-violent revolution” succeed or fail.
Yo fui
quien les enseño a volar a esas aves, dijo el ganso, refiriéndose al Arab Sprint.
Como explicas tu alegría si tu jamás
pudiste volar, como fue posible eso?, le
dijo otra ave del mismo corral. Como?.. porque me alegra mucho que
otros puedan hacer lo que yo no pude hacer, dijo el ganso.
Esa parece la triste alegría del payaso de circo que habla, grita y por más
ruido mediático que haga, nadie le cree. Se parece al charlatán que parado
sobre el extremo de un madero anuncia las bondades de su cebo de culebra, solo
que el madero que pisa, colinda con un precipicio y ve él cómo el público que
sostiene la tabla en tierra firme, empiezan a retirarse. Que triste su final.
OTHER SIMILAR VIDEOS and related videos
"OTPOR" Youth Movement in Serbia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjb_fuvdzhU
=========
From Dictatorship to Democracy the entire
book available in full online! http://www.aeinstein.org/downloads/ OR http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDTD.pdf
-----------------
INTRODUCTION 2
The American academic Gene Sharp's
seminal essay "From Dictatorship to Democracy" could be subtitled "the essential
guide to peaceful resistance".
This updated version is drawn from more than 40 years of research and writing on peaceful methods of protest, totalitarian systems and political theory. One of the key tenets of Sharp's analysis is that non-violent struggle has a greater chance of success than violent resistance, because tyrannical regimes will, invariably, have the superior military power with which to suppress armed risings. The solution, Sharp contends, is "political defiance" – a term first coined by Robert Helvey, a retired US army colonel with whom Sharp worked in Burma.
In emphasizing the need for strategic planning, Sharp puts forward four important stages: the first, Grand Strategy, directs the use of all available resources and offers a basic framework for the other three – strategies, tactics and methods. Sharp also offers suggestions to ensure a dictatorship is not merely replaced by another tyrannical regime. Alongside the resistance movement, he advocates the development of independent social, economic, cultural and political institutions which can contribute to changing the power relations within a society.
Sharp refers to his work as "a heavy analysis" and "not easy reading", but I found it hugely accessible. To support his arguments, he adroitly blends a 14th-century Chinese parable and the Classical Greek myth of Achilles into his formal analysis.
The book is a must read for all those interested in human rights and democracy, but those supporters of totalitarian regimes should also pay heed to it for, as Sharp points out: "All dictatorships have weaknesses, internal inefficiencies, personal rivalries, institutional inefficiencies and conflicts between organisations and departments."
As Sharp demonstrates, identifying these vulnerabilities is the first step towards liberation from tyranny.
==============
INTRODUCTION 3A by WIKIPEDIA [here only extracts]
From Dictatorship to Democracy, A
Conceptual Framework for Liberation
is a book-length essay on the generic problem of how to destroy a dictatorship
and to prevent the rise of a new one.[1]
The book was written in 1993 by Gene Sharp
(b. 1928), a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts.
The book has been published in many countries worldwide and translated into
more than 30 languages. Editions in many languages are also published by the Albert
Einstein Institution of Boston, Massachusetts. Its
primary English-language edition is currently (2012) the Fourth United States
Edition, published in May 2010.[2]
The book has been circulated
worldwide and cited repeatedly as influencing movements such as the Arab Spring
of 2010–2012 [IT
CONTINUES]
Influence
From Dictatorship to Democracy has been circulated worldwide and cited repeatedly as
influencing movements such as the Arab Spring
(pictured) in 2011.
The New York Times reported in 2011 that From Dictatorship to Democracy
had been posted by the Muslim Brotherhood on its website during the 2011
Egyptian revolution.[39]
===========
INTRODUCTION 3B GENE SHARP IN WIKIPEDIA [Here
some extracts]
Sharp's contributions
to the theory of nonviolent resistance
Gene Sharp described the sources of
his ideas as in-depth studies of Mohandas
K. Gandhi, A. J. Muste,[20]
Henry David Thoreau to a minor degree, and other sources footnoted in his 1973
book The Politics of Nonviolent Action, which was based on his 1968 PhD thesis.[21]
In the book, a "three-volume classic on civil disobedience,"[22]
he provides a pragmatic political analysis of nonviolent action as a method for
applying power in a conflict.
Sharp's key theme is that power is
not monolithic; that is, it does not derive from some intrinsic quality of
those who are in power. For Sharp, political power, the power of any state -
regardless of its particular structural organization - ultimately derives from
the subjects of the state. His fundamental belief is that any power structure
relies upon the subjects' obedience to the orders of the ruler(s). If subjects do not
obey, rulers have no power.
In Sharp's view, all effective power structures have systems
by which they encourage or extract obedience from their subjects. States have particularly complex systems for keeping subjects
obedient. These systems include specific institutions (police, courts,
regulatory bodies), but may also involve cultural dimensions that inspire
obedience by implying that power is monolithic (the god cult of the
Egyptian pharaohs, the dignity of the office of the President, moral or ethical
norms and taboos). Through these systems, subjects are presented with a system
of sanctions (imprisonment, fines, ostracism)
and rewards (titles, wealth, fame) which influence the extent of their
obedience.
Sharp identifies this hidden
structure as providing a window of opportunity for a population to cause
significant change in a state. Sharp cites the insight of Étienne de La Boétie (1530 – 1563), that if the subjects of a particular state
recognize that they are the source of the state's power, they can refuse their
obedience and their leader(s) will be left without power.
Sharp's influence on
struggles worldwide
Sharp has been called both the "Machiavelli of nonviolence" and the "Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare."[26] It is claimed by some that Sharp's
scholarship has influenced resistance organizations around the world. Most
recently, it is claimed that the protest movement that toppled President
Mubarak of Egypt drew extensively on his ideas, as well as the youth movement
in Tunisia and the earlier ones in the Eastern European color revolutions that had previously been
inspired by Sharp's work, although some have claimed Sharp's influence has been exaggerated by
Westerners looking for a Lawrence of Arabia figure.
Sharp's 1993 handbook From Dictatorship
to Democracy[29] was first published in Burma, fourth
edition in 2010. It has since been translated into at least 31 other languages.[30] It has served as a basis for the
campaigns of Serbia's Otpor
(who were also directly trained by the Albert Einstein
Institute)
=======
REVIEW 1
THE
POLITICS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION, 3 BOOKS from Gene Sharp
The Politics of
Nonviolent Action is a
three-volume political science book by Gene
Sharp, originally published in
the United States in
1973. Sharp is one of the most influential theoreticians of nonviolent action, and his publications have been influential in struggles
around the world. This book contains his foundational analyses of the nature of
political power, and of the methods and dynamics of nonviolent action. It
represents a "thorough revision and rewriting"[1]:vi of the author's 1968 doctoral thesis
at Oxford University.[2]
Book One: Power and
Struggle
Chapter 1, The
Nature and Control of Political Power, explains that, although rarely
articulated, there are "basically... two views of the nature of
power."[1]:8 The "monolith theory"[1]:9 views people as dependent upon the good will of their
governments, whereas nonviolent action is grounded in the converse "pluralistic-dependency
theory"[1]:9 that views government as "dependent on the people's
good will, decisions and support,"[1]:8 a view that Sharp argues is "sounder and more
accurate."[1]:8 Sharp argues that "political power is not intrinsic to
the power-holder,"[1]:11 but flows from outside sources that include perceptions of
authority, available human resources; skills and knowledge; material resources;
and intangible psychological and ideological factors. These sources all depend
upon obedience, which arises for "various and multiple"[1]:19reasons that include habit, fear of sanctions, perceived moral
obligation, psychological identification with the ruler, zones of indifference,
and absence of self-confidence among subjects. Obedience is essentially
voluntary, and consent can be withdrawn.
Chapter 2, Nonviolent Action: An Active Technique of Struggle explains that nonviolent action may be used for a
diverse mixture of motives that are religious, ethical, moral, or based on
expediency.[1]:67 "Passivity, submission, cowardice [have] nothing
to do with the nonviolent technique,"[1]:65 which is correctly understood as "one type
of active response."[1]:65[17] Nonviolence has suffered scholarly neglect.[1]:71–4 Nonviolence may involve both acts of omission and acts
of commission,[1]:68 does not rely solely on persuading the opponent,[1]:70 and "does not depend on the assumption that man is
inherently 'good'."[1]:70 These and other characteristics of nonviolence are
explained and illustrates through examples from ancient Rome, colonial United
States, Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Latin America, India,
Czeschoslavakia, and the Southern United States.
Book Two: The Methods of
Nonviolent Action[edit]
Chapters 3 to 8 contains a detailed listing and description of specific
methods of nonviolent action, such as boycotts, strikes, and sit-ins. Such a listing, Sharp says, "may assist
actionists in the selection of methods most appropriate for use in a particular
situation... [or] give researchers and persons evaluating the political
potentialities of the nonviolent technique a greater grasp of its armory of
methods of struggle."[23]:114 Nearly 200 methods are listed in the table of contents, and
Sharp groups them into three broad categories, protest and persuasion (ch. 3), noncooperation (chs. 4-7), and intervention (ch. 8),
in terms of how they relate to the dynamics of nonviolent action (Vol. 3). These
categories "ought not to be regarded as rigid, but simply as generally
valid."[23]:114 The methods are summarized in the table to the right
(below).
Chapter 3. Nonviolent Protest
& Persuasion. Describes
methods that include formal statements, such as public speeches, petitions, and letters; communications with a wider
audience, such as banners, newspapers and skywriting; group presentations such as deputations, picketing,
or mock awards; symbolic public acts, such as public worship, displays of flags; pressures on individuals, such as vigils or
fraternization; drama and music; processions; honoring the dead; public
assemblies, such as protest meetings or teach-ins; and acts of withdrawal such as walk-outs or
renouncing honors.
Chapter 4. Social Noncooperation. Methods
that include ostracism of persons; noncooperation with social events, customs or
institutions, such as a student strike or
a suspension of a sporting activity; and withdrawals from the social system,
such as staying at home, or protest emigration (hijrat).
Chapter 5. Economic Noncooperation (I) Economic Boycotts. Boycotts and other similar methods, including consumer boycotts
and other consumer actions; workers' and producers' boycotts; suppliers' and
handlers' boycotts; actions by owners and management, such as lockouts or
traders' boycotts; actions by holders of financial resources, such as
withdrawal of bank deposits; and actions by governments, such as embargos or blacklisting of traders.
Chapter 6. Economic Noncooperation (II) The Strike. Various
types of strikes, including symbolic strikes such as
quickie walkouts; agricultural strikes; strikes by special groups such asprisoners or professionals; industrial strikes; restricted
strikes, such as slowdown strikes and
selective strikes; multi-industry strikes, such as a general strike; and a strike combined with economic closure, such as
a hartal.
Chapter 7. Political Noncooperation. Political noncooperation can be implemented
through rejection of authority, as by withholding allegiance; citizens'
noncooperation with government, such as boycotts of elections or refusals to assist enforcement
agents; citizens' partial or full disobedience, such as slow compliance, refusal to disperse,
or disobedience of 'illegitimate' laws; actions by government personnel, such
as mutiny; and international government action, such as
severing diplomatic relations.
Chapter 8. Nonviolent Intervention. "Compared
with... protest and persuasion and... noncooperation, the methods of nonviolent
intervention pose a more direct and immediate challenge."[23]:357 They
include psychological interventions, such as the hunger
strike, satyagrahic fast, and reverse trial; physical
interventions, such as sit-ins and nonviolent occupations; social
interventions, such as guerilla
theater, and establishing new
social patterns or social institutions; economic interventions, such as
nonviolent land seizures or establishing alternative transportation systems;
and political interventions, such as seeking imprisonment or establishing a
parallel government.
Book Three. The Dynamics of
Nonviolent Action. The third volume focuses on the dynamics of nonviolent action,
which always "involves continuous change in the various influences and
forces which operate in that process and are constantly influencing each other.
No discussion in static terms... can be valid."[20]:450 It
opens with Chapter 9, Laying the Groundwork for Nonviolent
Action, with subsections addressing such issues as casting off fear,
the social sources of power changes, leadership needs, openness and secrecy,
investigation, negotiations, generating "cause-consciousness."[20]:473 It
also describes key elements of nonviolent strategy and tactics, pertaining to
issues such as initiative, timing, numbers and strength, psychological
elements, application of an Indirect approach, the
choice of weapons (as described in Vol. 2), and the issuance of an ultimatum.
Chapter 10 describes how the onset of nonviolent action is
likely to bring various types of oppression, and reviews examples and
approaches for withstanding increasing repression, which is imperative, because
"without willingness to face repression... the nonviolent action movement
cannot hope to succeed."[20]:547 Chapter 11 describes
methods for maintaining the nonviolent group's solidarity, such as
"Maintaining rapport"[20]:575 through regular mass meetings. Chapter 11 also extensively
analyzes the threats against and needs for ongoing adherence to nonviolent
discipline, "in order to bring into operation the changes that will alter
relationships and achieve [the] objectives,"[20]:573even as "the opponent... tries to provoke them to commit
violence - with which he could deal more effectively."[20]:573
Chapter 12 covers
"political jiu-jitsu... one of the special processes by which
nonviolent action deals with violent repression."[20]:657 More specifically:
By combining nonviolent
discipline with solidarity and persistence in struggle, the nonviolent
actionists cause the violence of the opponent's repression to be exposed in the
worst possible light. This, in turn, may lead to shifts in opinion and then to
shifts in power relationships favorable to the nonviolent group. These shifts
result from withdrawal of support for the opponent and the grant of support to
the nonviolent actionists.[20]:657
This chapter provides numerous historical examples of such
political jiu-jitsu, and analyzes such factors as the impact of
third party opinion and international indignation, arousing dissent and
opposition in the opponent's own camp, and increasing support and participation
from the grievance group.
Three Ways Success May Be Achieved (Chapter
13) describes and analyzes conversion, accommodation,
and nonviolent coercion. These represent "three broad
processes, or mechanisms, by which the complicated forces utilized and produced
by nonviolent action influence the opponent and his capacity for action and
thereby perhaps bring success to the cause of the grievance group":[20]:705–6
In conversion the
opponent has been inwardly changed so that he wants to make the changes desired
by the nonviolent actionists. In accommodation, the opponent does
not agree with the changes... and he could continue the struggle... but... has
concluded that it is best to grant some or all of the demands.... In nonviolent
coercion the opponent has not changed his mind on the issues and wants
to continue the struggle, but is unable to do
so; the sources of his power and means of control have been taken away from him
without the use of violence . This may have been done by the nonviolent group
or by the opposition and noncooperation among his own group (as, mutiny of his troops), or some combination of
these.[20]:706
Finally, The Redistribution of Power (Chapter 14) describes how using the nonviolent technique is
likely to affect the nonviolent group, and the distribution of power
between the contenders and in the larger society or system. Such effects may
include the ending of submissiveness, increases in hope, effects on aggression, masculinity, crime andviolence, increased group unity, and the
decentralization of power. "Nonviolent action appears by its very nature
to contribute to the diffusion of effective power throughout the society"[20]:802 due in part to the enhanced self-reliance of those using the
technique.
==========
REVIEWS FROMS A MARXIST
PERSPECTIVE ON NON VIOLENCE METHODS OF REV
1. Book Reviews: ‘Life without Money’, ‘From Dictatorship to
Democracy' extract from http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2012/no-1291-march-2012/book-reviews
I recognise the importance of Sharp’s basic argument about the potential of non-violent political defiance and its advantages over armed struggle. Indeed, it is relevant in a much broader context than that of the struggle against dictatorship.
Although there is a significant difference between democratic and dictatorial regimes, political democracy under capitalism is bound to be limited and unstable because capitalism is inherently anti-democratic as an economic system. In recent years, democratic rights have been seriously undermined in Western countries under the pretext of the “war against terror”. So non-violent action is needed not only to establish democracy where it does not exist, but also to preserve it where it is at risk.
Non-violent popular action can also play an important role in moving forward from limited political democracy to full social democracy, which is what we mean by socialism. Not as a substitute for electoral and constitutional action, but as an additional guarantee that the socialist majority will achieve its goal under any conceivable circumstances.
STEFAN
========
REVIEW 2 Jack
Limdsrtrom
FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY — the executive
summary. March1 , 2012 http://jacklindstrom.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/from-dictatorship-to-democracy-the-executive-summary/
FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY the entire audio-book (available in full online! http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf
; http://www.aeinstein.org/downloads/ OR http://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/FDTD.pdf ), I made this summary so that anyone who
hasn’t read it can easily check out its contents, as well as for quick
reference for those who have already read it.
-----------------
Here the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY from Jack
Limdsrtrom of the BOOK BY GENE SHARP
Competent strategic planning
of political defiance is necessary in order to take down a dictatorship. To be
as effective as possible, this strategy must target the dictators’ most
important sources of power at their weakest points.
Why strategy is essential:
You are more likely to end up where
you want to go
Need to maximize resources since the
dictatorship has so much more
Ensures that the current dictator
isn’t just replaced by a new one
Keeps you on the offenses instead of
just responding to whatever the dictatorship does
Otherwise may just be wasting
energy; just doing whatever you feel like doing isn’t likely to be enough to
take down the dictatorship. It may even increase the dictatorship’s strength.
PROTIPS:
The movement must be nonviolent.
By using violence, you attack the
dictatorship at its strongest point (i.e. military).
Don’t worry about infiltration.
Since it’s bound to happen whether you
strive to maintain secrecy or not, you gain more from including as many people
as possible than being closed off and allowing paranoia to destroy the
resistance group.
Can’t plan just to dismantle the
dictatorship; have to also plan the democratic system that will replace it or
else another dictator will.
THE DICTATORSHIP’S POWER
LIES IN:
Authority: the belief among the
people that the regime is legitimate and that they have a moral duty to obey
it.
The assistance of the people
Material resources (incl. financial)
Punishment of those who are
disobedient
HOW TO DISMANTLE THESE
BASES OF POWER:
Delegitimize the regime’s authority
(e.g. through symbolic acts)
Overcome the people’s fear and habit
of obedience; increase their desire and ability to withdraw cooperation by
disseminating stories that illustrate this process
Strengthen social groups independent
from dictatorship (isolated individuals not members of groups usually are
unable to make a significant impact)
Use strikes, boycotts, economic
autonomy, etc. to restrict dictators’ material resources
First plan: grand strategy, then strategies for selected resistance on particular issues, then tactics for each strategy
and the methods you will use.
GRAND STRATEGY: the basic framework for coordinating resources to attain
objectives.
Strategy: how best to achieve particular objectives within the grand
strategy (and how to measure success).
Tactic: a limited action employed to achieve a specific objective.
Method: specific means of action (from small-scale dissent, e.g.
stalling or dressing a certain way, to large-scale protests)
HOW TO FIGURE OUT GRAND
STRATEGY:
Figure out the weaknesses of the
dictatorship and how to exploit them.
Sketch out the broad strokes of the
entire conflict
Make the grand strategy widely known
(more people will be willing to participate when they see that taking down the
dictatorship is actually possible and how to do it)
Once you’ve decided on a grand
strategy, do not deviate from it to emotions of the moment or minor moves by
the dictatorship.
HOW TO PLAN CAMPAIGN
STRATEGIES:
Acquire a thorough understanding of
the workings of nonviolent struggle.
Decide which campaigns will best
move the grand strategy forward.
Each campaign should involve
different segments of the population to avoid burnout.
Determine how to preserve order and
meet the needs of the people during the conflict.
Reevaluate and develop alternative
courses of action as needed.
WHILE IMPLEMENTING
CAMPAIGNS:
Disseminate guidelines to
participants on when and how to withhold cooperation.
Warn participants what the risks of
various actions are
Maintain nonviolence through
pledges, leaflets; boycott pro-violent people
Keeping reporting strictly factual.
Exaggerations will undermine credibility.
Determine how to withstand countermeasures
by the dictatorship
Celebrate ALL successes, including
small ones, to keep up morale.
Campaigns in the beginning
of the struggle differ from those towards the end
In the beginning, choose attainable
objectives since victories raise morale.
Weaken the people’s support of the
dictatorship (e.g. reveal brutalities of the regime and
disastrous economic consequences
from their policies)
In more advanced stages, restrict
dictators’ power with mass popular noncooperation, then sever power completely
to disintegrate dictatorship.
HIGH PRIORITY: It will be exceptionally difficult, or impossible,
to disintegrate the dictatorship if the police, bureaucrats, and military
forces remain fully supportive of the dictatorship and obedient in carrying out
its commands. (However, the goal is NOT a coup d’état.)
Assess loyalty of military. What
factors might make them vulnerable to democratic subversion?
Military can help through safe forms
of disobedience: being inefficient, ignoring orders, offering safe passage.
Must concurrently build independent society/parallel government
Will take over once dictatorship
falls.
Determine which aspects of the
government need to be abolished and which just need to be revised.
Make sure it preserves civil
liberties.
Plan ahead what to do with the
former dictators (avoid a bloodbath!)
After fall of dictatorship:
Celebrate, but do not reduce
vigilance. Utopia will not just suddenly appear. This is only the beginning
point for long-term efforts to improve society.
Block attempted coups the same way
you took down the dictatorship (deny legitimacy, withhold cooperation)
The formerly oppressed will now have
more self-confidence in dealing with future problems.
==========
REVIEW 3
HOW TO BEST TRANSITION FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY, January 2, 2010
By Serge J. Van Steenkiste (Atlanta, GA) http://www.amazon.com/From-dictatorship-democracy-conceptual-liberation/product-reviews/1880813092
Gene Sharp is mostly successful in
his essay of how to bring down a dictatorship and how to prevent the emergence
of a new one. Readers should note that Mr. Sharp does not aim to tailor
his analysis to a specific country living under dictatorship. To his credit,
the author does not downplay the costs associated with defying a dictatorship.
Freedom is not free as he reminds his audience repeatedly.
After weighing the pros and cons of options such as violence, guerrilla warfare, military coups, foreign intervention, elections, negotiations, legal/judicial challenges, and public opinion, Mr. Sharp comes to the conclusion that political defiance is the best option for those who want peace and freedom. As the descendant of political prisoners of Nazi Germany, I cannot subscribe blindly to this recommendation. It depends on how ruthlessly the target dictatorship deals with its opponents. To his credit, Mr. Sharp acknowledges that a high priority for democratic strategists is to subvert the loyalty and obedience of military forces and police to their dictators.
To weaken and then destroy dictatorships, democratic resisters have to be cognizant of the dictators' constantly replenished sources of power. Contrary to popular wisdom, even totalitarian dictatorships rely on the population and the societies they rule. Mr. Sharp explores the important sources of power such as moral and political authority, human and material resources, access to specialized skills and knowledge, psychological and ideological influences, and last but not least, punishment. The author observes on this subject that abandonment or control of fear is critical to ending the power of the dictators over their subjects.
This understanding of the sources of power is important in the formulation of what Mr. Sharp calls the grand strategy, strategies, tactics, and methods. The author rightly deplores that most people in democratic opposition groups do not grasp the importance of careful strategic planning before they act. Being always on the defensive is the price to be paid for ignoring this advice. Mr. Sharp invites these opposition groups to ask some fundamental questions about themselves, their non-democratic opponents, and the environment around them for this purpose. To help facilitate this process, the author could have mentioned the use of the SWOT analysis that is widely used in the corporate world. SWOT stands for one's inner strengths and weaknesses and the threats and opportunities existing in the surrounding environment. This planned non-violent struggle is fought by psychological, social, economic, and political weapons applied by the population and the institutions of the repressed society. In the appendix to the essay, Mr. Sharp enumerates about 200 methods of non-violent action.
Political defiance can result into four possible changes: Conversion, accommodation, non-violent coercion, and disintegration. Emotional or rational conversion of the opponents to the democratic cause is the least likely scenario based on Mr. Sharp's extensive research. The author dismisses accommodation as inappropriate because only a shift in power relations in favor of democrats has the potential to bring about peace and freedom down the road. Both non-violent coercion and disintegration have a better chance than the other two possible changes to result into the end of dictatorship.
However, non-violent struggle is not enough on its own to successfully make the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Mr. Sharp also emphasizes the importance for the strategists of democratic forces to facilitate the growth of autonomous social, economic, cultural, and political institutions to expand the "democratic space," resulting in the reduced control of the dictatorship. The author invites democratic strategists to plan for a long-term struggle while being prepared to exploit any opportunity to shorten it. Usually, dictatorships do not collapse extremely quickly. The fall of former East Germany in 1989 is clearly an exception to this rule. Mr. Sharp also recommends that democratic resisters celebrate victories and recognize the accomplishments of the victors; doing this without losing sight of their end goal, i.e., peace and freedom.
Mr. Sharp learns from his experience that strong political resistance and the growth of independent institutions have a good chance to generate in time widespread international "sympathy" with the aims of the democratic resisters. However, Mr. Sharp bluntly warns democratic strategists that their work is not done with the fall of dictators. The importance of strategic planning comes once more to the forefront in deftly handling the transition from a dictatorship to a sustainable democracy. A total governmental void could bring about either chaos or the emergence of a new dictatorship. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 is one of the examples that Mr. Sharp uses to draw the attention to the fact that the new dictatorship may even be more cruel and total in its control than the old one. Mr. Sharp recommends that democratic forces immediately deny legitimacy to the putschists and resist them with both non-cooperation and defiance before these new tyrants get access to the important sources of power mentioned above.
In summary, Mr. Sharp usually clearly articulates what needs to be done to maximize the chance to bring about peace and freedom through non-violent defiance. However, readers should keep in mind that the ruthlessness of the target dictatorship should never be lost from sight to best prioritize the methods that Mr. Sharp enumerates in the appendix to his essay.
After weighing the pros and cons of options such as violence, guerrilla warfare, military coups, foreign intervention, elections, negotiations, legal/judicial challenges, and public opinion, Mr. Sharp comes to the conclusion that political defiance is the best option for those who want peace and freedom. As the descendant of political prisoners of Nazi Germany, I cannot subscribe blindly to this recommendation. It depends on how ruthlessly the target dictatorship deals with its opponents. To his credit, Mr. Sharp acknowledges that a high priority for democratic strategists is to subvert the loyalty and obedience of military forces and police to their dictators.
To weaken and then destroy dictatorships, democratic resisters have to be cognizant of the dictators' constantly replenished sources of power. Contrary to popular wisdom, even totalitarian dictatorships rely on the population and the societies they rule. Mr. Sharp explores the important sources of power such as moral and political authority, human and material resources, access to specialized skills and knowledge, psychological and ideological influences, and last but not least, punishment. The author observes on this subject that abandonment or control of fear is critical to ending the power of the dictators over their subjects.
This understanding of the sources of power is important in the formulation of what Mr. Sharp calls the grand strategy, strategies, tactics, and methods. The author rightly deplores that most people in democratic opposition groups do not grasp the importance of careful strategic planning before they act. Being always on the defensive is the price to be paid for ignoring this advice. Mr. Sharp invites these opposition groups to ask some fundamental questions about themselves, their non-democratic opponents, and the environment around them for this purpose. To help facilitate this process, the author could have mentioned the use of the SWOT analysis that is widely used in the corporate world. SWOT stands for one's inner strengths and weaknesses and the threats and opportunities existing in the surrounding environment. This planned non-violent struggle is fought by psychological, social, economic, and political weapons applied by the population and the institutions of the repressed society. In the appendix to the essay, Mr. Sharp enumerates about 200 methods of non-violent action.
Political defiance can result into four possible changes: Conversion, accommodation, non-violent coercion, and disintegration. Emotional or rational conversion of the opponents to the democratic cause is the least likely scenario based on Mr. Sharp's extensive research. The author dismisses accommodation as inappropriate because only a shift in power relations in favor of democrats has the potential to bring about peace and freedom down the road. Both non-violent coercion and disintegration have a better chance than the other two possible changes to result into the end of dictatorship.
However, non-violent struggle is not enough on its own to successfully make the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Mr. Sharp also emphasizes the importance for the strategists of democratic forces to facilitate the growth of autonomous social, economic, cultural, and political institutions to expand the "democratic space," resulting in the reduced control of the dictatorship. The author invites democratic strategists to plan for a long-term struggle while being prepared to exploit any opportunity to shorten it. Usually, dictatorships do not collapse extremely quickly. The fall of former East Germany in 1989 is clearly an exception to this rule. Mr. Sharp also recommends that democratic resisters celebrate victories and recognize the accomplishments of the victors; doing this without losing sight of their end goal, i.e., peace and freedom.
Mr. Sharp learns from his experience that strong political resistance and the growth of independent institutions have a good chance to generate in time widespread international "sympathy" with the aims of the democratic resisters. However, Mr. Sharp bluntly warns democratic strategists that their work is not done with the fall of dictators. The importance of strategic planning comes once more to the forefront in deftly handling the transition from a dictatorship to a sustainable democracy. A total governmental void could bring about either chaos or the emergence of a new dictatorship. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 is one of the examples that Mr. Sharp uses to draw the attention to the fact that the new dictatorship may even be more cruel and total in its control than the old one. Mr. Sharp recommends that democratic forces immediately deny legitimacy to the putschists and resist them with both non-cooperation and defiance before these new tyrants get access to the important sources of power mentioned above.
In summary, Mr. Sharp usually clearly articulates what needs to be done to maximize the chance to bring about peace and freedom through non-violent defiance. However, readers should keep in mind that the ruthlessness of the target dictatorship should never be lost from sight to best prioritize the methods that Mr. Sharp enumerates in the appendix to his essay.
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MORE VIDEOS ON SHARP BOOKS and RELATED WRITINGS
1- FROM LIBRI BOOKS
AUDIO-BOOK of GENE SHARP
2- Insight with Gene
Sharp- From Dictatorship to Democracy. Insight
with Gene Sharp- From Dictatorship to Democracy http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZwuYtzUOcKk
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