From Dictatorship to Democracy
Author | Gene Sharp |
---|---|
Language | English & 30+ others |
Publisher | Albert Einstein Institution |
Publication date | 1994; others |
Publication place | United States; others |
Published in English | 1994 |
Pages | 93 (2010); others |
ISBN | 9781880813096 |
OCLC | 706499601 |
Text | From Dictatorship to Democracy at Wikisource |
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 (1928–2018), 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. As of 2012[update] its current primary English-language edition is 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.[3][4][5][6]
Origin
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From Dictatorship to Democracy (FDTD) was written in 1993 at the request of a prominent exiled Burmese democrat, Tin Maung Win, who was then editor of Khit Pyaing (The New Era Journal), in Bangkok, Thailand.[7]: 87–8 The book took several months to write as the author drew upon several decades of experience in scholarship on nonviolent action.[7]: 87 [8] FDTD was first published in 1993 as installments in Burmese and English in Khit Pyaing. In 1994, it was issued as a booklet in both English and Burmese.[7]: 88 Since that time, there have been several additional English-language editions and translations into more than 30 additional languages.
Topics covered
[edit]From Dictatorship to Democracy contains a preface and ten sections. Its first appendix includes 198 Methods Of Nonviolent Action that were taken from Gene Sharp's The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973), Part Two, The Methods of Nonviolent Action. The main sections of the 4th US edition are entitled:
- 1. Facing Dictatorships Realistically
- 2. The Dangers of Negotiations
- 3. Whence Comes the Power?
- 4. Dictatorships Have Weaknesses
- 5. Exercising Power
- 6. The Need for Strategic Planning
- 7. Planning Strategy
- 8. Applying Political Defiance
- 9. Disintegrating the Dictatorship
- 10. Groundwork for Durable Democracy
Three appendices are included in the fourth US edition of FDTD:
- Appendix 1. The Methods of Nonviolent Action
- Appendix 2. Acknowledgements and Notes on the History of From Dictatorship to Democracy
- Appendix 3. A Note About Translations and Reprinting of this Publication
- For Further Reading
Appendix 3 gives a step-by-step procedure for effectively translating FDTD into other languages.
Influence
[edit]From Dictatorship to Democracy has been circulated worldwide and cited repeatedly as influencing movements such as the Arab Spring (pictured) in 2011.[3][4][5][6] Sharp has stated that after FDTD was first written, "although no efforts were made to promote the publication for use in other countries, translations and distribution of the publication began to spread on their own.... We usually do not know how awareness of this publication has spread from country to country."[7]: 88–9
A CNN profile of Sharp in 2012 stated that FDTD had "spread like a virus," calling it a "viral pamphlet."[3] The book "started life in Myanmar as incendiary advice printed on a few sheets of paper and surreptitiously exchanged by activists living under a military dictatorship." Later it "took on a life of its own... eventually, some say, inspiring the uprisings known as the Arab Spring."[3]
The Pakistani Daily Times stated that FDTD "has had an impact on the Arabic-speaking world even though the setting is in a non-Arabic world."[4]
Non-English Editions From Dictatorship to Democracy | ||
Language | Year | Information |
Afan Oromo | 2011 | *[9] (Ethiopia) |
Amharic | 2007 | *[10] (Ethiopia) |
Arabic | 2004, 2009 | *[11] OCLC 743320612 70p (2004); OCLC 770709135 (2009) Radwan Ziadeh (intro.), Khaled Dar Omar (trans.). Beirut: Arab Scientific Publishers |
Azeri | 2005 | *[12] OCLC 743320450 84p |
Belarusian | 2001, 2005 | *[13] OCLC 770709132 68p |
Burmese | 1995 | *[14] OCLC 85355067, OCLC 770709134 83p |
Chin | 2001 | *[15] (Burma) |
Chinese | 2005 | Traditional*[16] or simplified*[17] OCLC 74331687252p |
Croatian | 1999 | OCLC 70965409 84p |
Danish | 2011 | OCLC 770780462 139p, Jesper Jordan (trans.) |
Dari | 2011 | *[18] Mohammad Raqib (trans.)(Afghanistan) |
Dhivehi | ‡ | (Maldives) |
Farsi | 2004 | *[19] OCLC 743321251 48p (Iran) |
French | 2009 | *[20] OCLC 743789703 137p, Dora Atger (trans). Paris: Harmattan |
Georgian | ‡ | |
German | 2008, 2011 | *[21] OCLC 725121629 Andreas Wirthensohn (trans.) Berlin: Parlando |
Indonesian | 1997 | *[22] OCLC 68008711 108p, Abdurrahman Wahid, Franz Magnis-Suseno (preface), Sugeng Bahagijo (trans.). Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan |
Italian | 2011 | *[23] Massimo Gardella (trans.) ISBN 978-88-6190-190-2 |
Jingpho | 2001 | *[24] (Myanmar) |
Karen | 2001 | *[25] 1118p (Myanmar) |
Khmer | 2005 | *[26] (Cambodia) |
Kurdish | ‡ | |
Kyrgyz | 2005 | *[27] 87p |
Mon | 2001 | *[28] 142p (Myanmar) |
Nepali | ‡ | |
Pashto | 2008 | *[29] |
Russian | 2005 | *[30] OCLC 70117352 221p, with Bruce Jenkins. Ekaterinburg: Ulʹtra Kulʹtura |
Serbian | 1999 | *[31] 84p, Novi Sad: Civic Initiatives |
Spanish | 2003 | *[32] Caridad Inda (trans.) ISBN 1-880813-13-0 |
Tibetan | 2006, 2009 | *[33] OCLC 609983386 173p, Padma-tshe-dbaṅ (trans) |
Tigrinya | 2006 | *[34] (Eritrea) |
Ukrainian | 2004 | *[35] |
Uzbek | ‡ | |
Vietnamese | 2005 | *[36] Viet Tan (trans.) |
*Listed on Albert Einstein Institution website | ||
‡Listed by Sharp (2010)[37] |
The Financial Times, in discussing the prospects for dictators worldwide, described Sharp as "the Lenin of the new Gandhi-ism" stating that
What is new... is the wildfire spread of systematically non-violent insurgency. This owes a great deal to the strategic thinking of Gene Sharp, an American academic whose how-to-topple-your-tyrant manual, From Dictatorship to Democracy, is the bible of activists from Belgrade to Rangoon.[5]
The BBC reported in 2004 that FDTD "was used practically as a textbook" in lectures attended by members of Otpor!, the Serbian resistance movement, in the year 2000.[38]
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]
In 2012, The New York Times noted that FDTD was "available for download in more than two dozen languages" (and provided a link), while describing Sharp as a "leading [advocate] of grass-roots democracy."[6]
In June 2015, the Financial Times reported that the Chinese government had tried to buy language rights to FDTD:[40]
FDTD has been reviewed in newspapers.[41]
In 2015, 17 activistists were charged for an attempted coup d'état in Angola, and one of the proofs presented was the possession of the book FDTD.[42]
Editions
[edit]The book was first published in 1993 in installments in Burmese and English in Khit Pyaing in Bangkok, Thailand. In 1994, it was issued as a booklet in both languages, with the assistance of the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma.[7][8][43] Since that time, there have been several additional English-language editions. There have also been editions in at least 30 other languages (see table at right). The English-language editions include:
- Sharp, Gene (1994). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (1st English language ed.). Bangkok, Thailand: Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma. OCLC 35447780. (79 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2003). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Albert Einstein Institution. (93 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2008). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Albert Einstein Institution. OCLC 791449678. (93 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2010). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Albert Einstein Institution. ISBN 9781880813096. OCLC 702484909. (93 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2011). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation. Michael Randle (preface). Pontypool, Wales: Green Print. ISBN 9781854251046. OCLC 780844332. London: Housmans Bookshop. (93 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2012). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (4th English ed.). Melbourne (Parkville), Australia: Custom Book Centre. ISBN 9781921775369. (102 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2012). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation. London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 9781846688393. OCLC 791419484. (138 pages)
- Sharp, Gene (2012). From dictatorship to democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation. New York: The New Press. ISBN 9781595588500. OCLC 778419479. (prepublication)
See also
[edit]- Nonviolent revolution
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948)
- Resistance to Civil Government (1849), by Henry David Thoreau
References
[edit]- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy Archived 2018-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, 4th U.S. Ed., p viii.
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy Archived 2018-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, 4th U.S. Ed., p iv.
- ^ a b c d Gene Sharp: A dictator's worst nightmare, Mairi Mackay, CNN, 2012-06-25, accessed 2012-06-25.
- ^ a b c Our foreign policy gap Archived October 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Professor Farakh A Khan, Daily Times, 2012-06-01, accessed 2012-06-25.
- ^ a b c Do not despair yet about dictators, David Gardner, The Financial Times Limited, 2012-06-25, accessed 2012-06-25.
- ^ a b c Velvet Gloves Over Iron Fists, Dwight Garner, The New York Times, 2012-06-10, accessed 2012-06-25.
- ^ a b c d e The history of FDTD is discussed at length in Appendix 2 of the 4th US edition of FDTD, "Acknowledgements and Notes on the History of From Dictatorship to Democracy" (pp. 87–90), available for download at the Albert Einstein Institution website HERE. Archived 2012-06-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Gene Sharp, A Short History of “From Dictatorship to Democracy" Archived March 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Excerpted from a letter written by Gene Sharp in response to a student, and downloaded from website of the Albert Einstein Institution. Sharp states that the writing of FDTD "took four months full time" (p. 1) (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Abbaa-Irreetirraa Gara Dimokraasii – Wixina Qabsoo Bilisummaatiif Malu Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy (Amharic) Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012
- ^ من الدكتـــاتورية إلى الديمـــقراطية[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ DİKTATURADAN DEMOKRATİYAYA DOĞRU: Azadliq üçün Konseptual Çərçivə Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Ад ДЫКТАТУРЫ да ДЭМАКРАТЫІ Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy – Burmese[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Hranhram Uknak In Zapi Thimmi Democracy Uknak Ah Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012
- ^ 從獨裁到民主: 解放運動的概念框架 Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ 从独裁到民主: 解放运动的概念框架 Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ از ديکتاتورى به ديموکراسى Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ از ديکتاتوري به دموکراسي [permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ De la Dictature à La Démocratie[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Von der Diktatur zur Demokratie Archived 2012-06-28 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Menuju Demokrasi Tanpa Kekerasan: Kerangka Konseptual Untuk Pembebasan Archived 2012-07-20 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Dalla dittatura alla democrazia Archived 2012-06-28 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Gumshem Magam Lai Kaw Nna Dimokresi Lai De Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy – Karen (Burma) Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy (Khmer/Cambodian translation) Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ ДИКТАТУРАДАН ДЕМОКРАТИЯГА Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy – Mon (Burma)[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ د ديکتاتورۍ نه ديموکراسۍ ته[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ От ДИКТАТУРЫ к ДЕМОКРАТИИ[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Od diktature do demokratije: Rušimo prepreke gradimo mostove Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ De la Dictadura a la Democracia[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy (Tibetan) Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012
- ^ From Dictatorship to Democracy (Tigrigna) Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Від диктатури до демократії: концептуальні засади здобуття свободи[permanent dead link] Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Từ Độc Tài đến Dân Chủ Archived 2013-09-13 at the Wayback Machine Albert Einstein Institution website (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ Page 89 of Gene Sharp (2010). From Dictatorship to Democracy (4th English language edition, 2010) Archived February 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine (accessed 29 June 2012)
- ^ BBC (29 November 2004). "Role of Serbian Resistance movement in Ukrainian protests detailed". Excerpt from report by Jelena Tusup: "Ukrainian 'resistance' According to Serbian recipe" by Serbian newspaper Blic on 28 November (accessed 30 June 2012)
- ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (December 16, 2011). "Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution". New York Times. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Mitchell, Tom (18 June 2015). "China worries about Hong Kong civil disobedience reaching mainland". Financial Times. p. 4. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ^ Lucy Popescu (2012, Jan 8). From Dictatorship to Democracy, By Gene Sharp: No fool, this child of the revolution The Independent (accessed 30 June 2012
- ^ "Angolan rapper Luaty Beirao accused of rebellion". BBC. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ^ Copyright page of [1] (accessed 29 June 2012)
External links
[edit]- Source text: From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framework for Liberation Archived 2018-08-28 at the Wayback Machine at archive.org: From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framework for Liberation
- From Dictatorship to Democracy public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- Short history of FDTD (from Albert Einstein Institution) Short history of FDTD (from archive.org)
- The Albert Einstein Institution
- How to Start a Revolution, documentary directed by Ruaridh Arrow