What Next for U.S. Foreign Policy?

Power, stability, and the post-Iraq world order.

Jesse Walker from the June 2003 issue

(Page 5 of 7)

In countless essays and books -- most notably The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973) and Social Power and Political Freedom (1980) -- Gene Sharp, 75, has investigated the many ways citizens have overthrown dictatorships and repelled invaders through organized, nonviolent noncooperation. (His next book, not yet completed, will explore 23 such case studies.) His life's work has been to synthesize these historical experiments into a body of strategic theory, so that dissidents under other tyrannies can overturn their rulers as well.

The chief outlet for this work is the Albert Einstein Institution, where he is senior scholar. Sharp has given on-site advice to dissidents as well, from nonviolent protests in the West Bank to the successful independence movements in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

reason: Is pre-emptive war ever justified?

Gene Sharp: It's mostly kind of stupid. Because you don't need it. If we had been spreading the know-how of nonviolent struggle throughout the Arab world, things would be different.

There are significant Arab and Muslim nonviolent noncooperation movements. There have been in the past. The Pakhtuns lived in the northwest frontier province of British India; they're very tough cookies. And they adopted nonviolent struggle against British rule. Gandhi said that was better than what the Hindus had been doing in the rest of India.

reason: Suppose George W. Bush called you the day before the war and said: "All right, I'm listening. What are some peaceful ways that Iraq might become a more democratic society?" What would you say to him?

Sharp: That he should have called me a few years ago. If you're on the edge of the cliff, it's a little hard to say, "Turn a sharp right."

But there are other ways of getting rid of dictatorships. Karl Deutsch, the political scientist, pointed to the fact that even totalitarian systems have weaknesses. One has to encourage the people in the country to focus on identifying those weaknesses and then concentrating resistance on those, rather than trying to fight them where they're strongest, which under most circumstances is militarily.

reason: What are some examples of these weaknesses?

Sharp: Legitimacy, for one thing. One thing that the Otpor resistance movement in Serbia did was undermine Milosevic's legitimacy, so he no longer had authority. They worked on undermining the reliability of the police and the troops, so they would not obey orders for extreme repression. Slowing down the reliability of the bureaucracy and civil servants. People not obeying, not cooperating.

reason: Suppose Bush says: "Well, maybe that would work. But we've got superior military force. We can defeat this dictator. Why is what you're talking about better?"

Sharp: I would argue that it's more practical. And it would produce a better society.

reason: How so?

Sharp: The democratization experience of people participating in resistance diffuses power in the society. In Serbia the Allied forces did lots of bombing and destruction of bridges and so forth, but that didn't do in Milosevic. It was the organization of popular resistance that did.

You can destroy all kinds of things with war and bombs. To actually change to a more democratic system is always difficult, but you have a better chance with this sort of resistance that depends on the participation of the people and building up the strength of institutions that are outside state control.