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From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp (view source)
Revision as of 08:04, 4 September 2020
, 08:04, 4 September 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=From Dictatorship to Democracy
|author=Gene Sharp
|publisher=Serpent's Tail
|date=January 2012
|summary=Created in response to a request from Burmese dissenters in the early 1990's, but in a generic format applicable to any country, Sharp's original booklet has enjoyed an extraordinary career and been credited with helping non-violent revolutions in numerous countries. Unless you are an activist leader or want to own such an iconic text, you'd be better buying something more comprehensive or more readable, or both.
|cover=1846688396
|aznuk=1846688396
|aznus=1846688396
}}
The most interesting, although by no means taking the most space, is the argument for the non-violent struggle as opposed to the armed struggle. The other chapters, concerned with detailed consideration of various aspects of non-violent struggle, are filled with the information and advice that would undoubtedly be helpful for those actively engaged in or planning such struggle. For a lay reader like your reviewer, however, ''From Dictatorship to Democracy''is rather heavy going while strangely lacking . This is partially due to the generic formula that only rarely refers to any particular examples, and partially to the voice and style of the text. The third-person voice that is standard in academic writing leads to a convoluted, dry and stilted wording. I confess I struggled to finish the descriptive part of ''From Dictatorship to Democracy''.
And thus I am left with a quandary as to how to treat Sharp's book. Unless you are a member of anti-dictatorship movement organising the resistance, it will be probably more informative – and quite possibly easier – to read other Sharp's works, for example ''Sharp's Dictionary of Power and Struggle: Language of Civil Resistance in Conflicts'' or ''Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice And 21st Century Potential''. On the other hand, if you want to own a somewhat iconic text associated with major political upheavals of the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st, then ''From Dictatorship to Democracy'' is as good a token volume as they come. Shelve next to [[In the Name of the People: Pseudo-Democracy and the Spoiling of Our World by Ivo Mosley]].
Those interested in political change and dissent might enjoy (or find interesting) [[Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast]], [[The New Rulers Of The World by John Pilger]], [[Interventions by Noam Chomsky]] or even [[Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell]].
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