From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation Paperback – September 4, 2012

The book focuses on use of non-violent resistance to reform repressive regimes into democratic governments. I found it interesting that the book is a darling of Leftist and progressive thinkers -- I guess because of its emphasis on techniques of bringing about revolution -- but the content is decidedly favorable to individual freedom and American traditions of representative government. Put another way, American "conservatives" (who are, for the most part, actually classical liberals) can learn a lot from this book. The author's comment that the instruments of freedom are private associations, beginning with the family and including everything from churches to garden clubs to literary societies, was -- by American standards -- distinctly conservative. American constitutional traditions derived directly from the experience of repression and were designed to prevent it, so it's no surprise that a key element of such prevention (or reformation, in the case of resistance to repression) is the private association of citizens, organizing and speaking freely.The author also wisely observes that violence tends to beget violence, and repressive governments yearn for any justification to unleash the full brutality of their police and military forces upon dissenters. Mass arrests and killings of "violent revolutionaries" are easy to justify -- of peaceful protestors, not so much. Also, violent revolutions tend to train citizens in continuing the deadly cycle of more of the same.If the book fails at any point, it is on the question of how to build an enduring free and representative government after the revolution. The author does address this, but very lightly. (For example, if any one factor has proved pivotal in revolutionary cycles throughout human history, it is the military. The authors of the American Constitution dealt with this issue by initially avoiding a standing army and making the military consist of individual state militias, populated by private, and privately armed, citizens. The theory was that the military won't become a tool of ambitious politicians to overthrow representative government, if the people themselves ARE the military. This has obviously changed a bit over the years -- we now have not only state militias and National Guard, but also a large standing military, while still retaining an armed-to-the-teeth public.) This, however, was never the author's goal in writing this particular book, which is a handbook on peaceful regime change toward democracy, not a treatise on stable and lasting democratic government.Well worth the read.

If I had to reduce my library down to only two or three books, I would take “Dracula” and “Phantom of the Opera” with me. I would now include “From Dictatorship to Democracy” in that small library.For anyone interested in negotiations, conflict mediation, power dynamics, peaceful resistance, or anything else along those lines, this book is very much a must-have. It reads well, it is concise, and Gene Sharp is arguably the foremost scholar with regards to nonviolent resistance and struggle. I have one other book of his, “Waging Nonviolent Resistance,” and I have always had a hard time getting through that book on a whole. If you read this book before reading waging nonviolence struggle, it’s much easier to grasp the importance of each of the individual chapters and stories that is related.For anyone who wants to be prepared for Tierney and dictatorship, and who counts themselves as an activist or at least a committed pacifist (like myself), “ from dictatorships democracy“ is essential for your library.

This celebrated, and respected Pulitzer writer and social commentator wrote a clear map on how to support yourself and your community when a dictator pushes for power.

I read this book in a couple hours. It's short, but powerful. It's a practical guide on how to use nonviolent resistance in a dictatorship. I found it reassuring. It gave me hope.Karen Molenaar Terrell, author of *Scrapbook of a Year and a Day*

Nothing in life can be done without planning, reviewing alternatives, laying down a strategy and evaluating tactics that can be used. In this case, all of these measures carry their share of risks, these have also to be evaluated.Relative secrecy is of importance. For any people to engange in changing their dictatorship this is a starter that must be read. It also makes it plain that there exist organizations worldwide with ample experience that can help in giving actual courses and clarifying and adapting methods to special situations encountered in different countries. It is a primer both for the activist and the politician who wants to make sure that any action has a relative possibility of success. I rate it only with four stars because additional teaching by experts is required.

Having entered the field in the 1960s reading insurgency and counter-insurgency, with "The Age of Martin Luther King" in a separate pigeon hole, reading this book was seeing many things I though I knew - for the first time.It is not just nuts and bolts, though those are neat - this is a thoughtful, real world but also idealistic discussion of values, philosophy and politics. Perhaps less openly spiritual or theological language than Gandhi, King or The Fellowship of Reconciliation, but not hostile to those perspectives.I am looking at the author's other books, as this book shouts that its author is well worth reading in full.

I've read little bits of this book every now and then and its so nice to finally read it as a whole. It is very relevant to the times even now.

The topic is very interesting, and Gene Sharp is the Authority when it comes to the study of non-violent resistance. However, the book could have been better written. It is missing examples and better explanations of how and why some techniques work under certain circumstances.