Gene Sharp (born 1928) is a political scientist, author and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organisation which studies and promotes the use of nonviolent action.
Sharp's best known book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973), provides a pragmatic political analysis of nonviolent action as a method for applying power in a conflict.
Sharp's key insight is that power is not monolithic. According to Sharp, as a dictator continues to discredit himself or herself, more and more police officers and soldiers will do things other than follow the dictator's orders, and once a critical mass is reached, will openly disobey.
Sharp's scholarship has influenced the strategy of resistance organizations around the world, most recently and notably in youth movements in Eastern Europe, including Otpor in Serbia, Kmara in the republic of Georgia, Pora in Ukraine, and Zubr in Belarus. These four groups used Sharp's handbook From Dictatorship to Democracy as a basis for their campaigns. Sharp may also have influenced the Orange Alternative movement fighting communism in the People's Republic of Poland (founded 1983), since it used methods mentioned by Sharp, though it's not clear whether its founders knew of his work. Sharp's book Civilian-based Defense, was used by the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian governments during their separation from the Soviet Union in 1991.
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Last updated: 10-12-2005 18:27:29
