The Politics of Nonviolent Action is a three-volume political science book by Gene Sharp, originally published in the United States in 1973. Sharp is one of the most influential theoreticians of nonviolent action, and his publications have been influential in movements around the world. This book contains his foundational analyses of the nature of political power, and of the methods and dynamics of nonviolent action. It represents a "thorough revision and rewriting" of the author's 1968 doctoral thesis at Oxford University.Gene Sharp (1968), "The politics of nonviolent action: a study in the control of political power." Doctoral dissertation at University of Oxford. The book has been reviewed in professional journals<ref name=bruyn74/><ref name=rusch74/><ref name=friedrich74/> and newspapers, and is mentioned on many contemporary websites.For example, articles at websites: Conflict Research Consortium Staff "Book Summary: Power and Struggle, by Gene Sharp" (accessed 24 June 2012); Thomas Weber and Robert J. Burrowes "Nonviolence: An Introduction" (accessed 24 June 2012). It has been fully translated into Italian and partially translated into several other languages.
Topics covered The three volumes or "parts" of The Politics of Nonviolent Action contain a total of 14 chapters, as well as a preface by the author, and an introduction by Thomas C. Schelling. Each part begins with an introduction by the author.Other book information: the same detailed table of contents is published in each volume. Bibliographic notes are placed at the end of each chapter. All three volumes are served by a single 53-page index at the end of volume 3. The first volume or "part" addresses the theory of power that implicitly or explicitly underlies nonviolent action; Volume 2 offers a detailed analysis of the methods of nonviolent action; and the Volume 3 analyzes the dynamics of nonviolent action.
Part One: Power and Struggle Chapter 1, The Nature and Control of Political Power, explains that, although rarely articulated, there are "basically... two views of the nature of power."Vol. 1 of Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973). The "monolith theory" views people as dependent upon the good will of their governments, whereas nonviolent action is grounded in the converse "pluralistic-dependency theory" that views government as "dependent on the people's good will, decisions and support," a view that Sharp argues is "sounder and more accurate." Sharp argues that "political power is not intrinsic to the power-holder," but flows from outside sources that include perceptions of authority, available human resources; skills and knowledge; material resources; and intangible psychological and ideological factors. These sources all depend upon obedience, which arises for "various and multiple" reasons that include habit, fear of sanctions, perceived moral obligation, psychological identification with the ruler, zones of indifference, and absence of self-confidence among subjects. Obedience is essentially voluntary, and consent can be withdrawn.
Next, Nonviolent Action: An Active Technique of Struggle (chapter 2) explains that nonviolent action may be used for a diverse mixture of motives that are religious, ethical, moral, or based on expediency. "Passivity, submission, cowardice [have] nothing to do with the nonviolent technique," which is correctly understood as "one type of active response."Emphasis in original. Nonviolence has suffered scholarly neglect. Nonviolence may involve both acts of omission and acts of commission, does not rely solely on persuading the opponent, and "does not depend on the assumption that man is inherently 'good'." These and other characteristics of nonviolence are explained and illustrates through examples from ancient Rome, colonial United States, Tsarist Russia, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Latin America, India, Czeschoslavakia, and the Southern United States. Nonviolent Leaders & Campaigns(From hundreds of examples in Politics of Nonviolent Action)
Methods of Nonviolent Action(Chapters in Volume Two) 3. Nonviolent Protest & Persuasion Describes methods that include formal statements, such as public speeches, petitions, and letters; communications with a wider audience, such as banners, newspapers and skywriting; group presentations such as deputations, picketing, or mock awards; symbolic public acts, such as public worship, displays of flags; pressures on individuals, such as vigils or fraternization; drama and music; processions; honoring the dead; public assemblies, such as protest meetings or teach-ins; and acts of withdrawal such as walk-outs or renouncing honors. 4. Social Noncooperation Methods that include ostracism of persons; noncooperation with social events, customs or institutions, such as a student strike or a suspension of a sporting activity; and withdrawals from the social system, such as staying at home, or protest emigration (hijrat). 5. Economic Noncooperation (I) Economic Boycotts Boycotts and other similar methods, including consumer boycotts and other consumer actions; workers' and producers' boycotts; suppliers' and handlers' boycotts; actions by owners and management, such as lockouts or traders' boycotts; actions by holders of financial resources, such as withdrawal of bank deposits; and actions by governments, such as embargos or blacklisting of traders. 6. Economic Noncooperation (II) The Strike Various types of strikes, including symbolic strikes such as quickie walkouts; agricultural strikes; strikes by special groups such as prisoners or professionals; industrial strikes; restricted strikes, such as slowdown strikes and selective strikes; multi-industry strikes, such as a general strike; and a strike combined with economic closure, such as a hartal. 7. Political Noncooperation Political noncooperation can be implemented through rejection of authority, as by withholding allegiance; citizens' noncooperation with government, such as boycotts of elections or refusals to assist enforcement agents; citizens' partial or full disobedience, such as slow compliance, refusal to disperse, or disobedience of 'illegitimate' laws; actions by government personnel, such as mutiny; and international government action, such as severing diplomatic relations. 8. Nonviolent Intervention "Compared with... protest and persuasion and... noncooperation, the methods of nonviolent intervention pose a more direct and immediate challenge." They include psychological interventions, such as the hunger strike, satyagrahic fast, and reverse trial; physical interventions, such as sit-ins and nonviolent occupations; social interventions, such as guerilla theater, and establishing new social patterns or social institutions; economic interventions, such as nonviolent land seizures or establishing alternative transportation systems; and political interventions, such as seeking imprisonment or establishing a parallel government.
Part Two: The Methods of Nonviolent Action
Volume 2 (chapters 3 to 8) contains a detailed listing and description of specific methods of nonviolent action, such as boycotts, strikes, and sit-ins. Such a listing, Sharp says, "may assist actionists in the selection of methods most appropriate for use in a particular situation... [or] give researchers and persons evaluating the political potentialities of the nonviolent technique a greater grasp of its armory of methods of struggle."Vol. 2 of Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973). A total of 198 methods are listed in the table of contents, and Sharp groups them into three broad categories, protest and persuasion (ch. 3), noncooperation (chs. 4-7), and intervention (ch. 8), in terms of how they relate to the dynamics of nonviolent action (Vol. 3). These categories "ought not to be regarded as rigid, but simply as generally valid." The methods are summarized in the adjacent table.
Part Three: The Dynamics of Nonviolent Action The third volume focuses on the dynamics of nonviolent action, which always "involves continuous change in the various influences and forces which operate in that process and are constantly influencing each other. No discussion in static terms... can be valid."Vol. 3 of Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973). It opens with Chapter 9, Laying the Groundwork for Nonviolent Action, with subsections addressing such issues as casting off fear, the social sources of power changes, leadership needs, openness and secrecy, investigation, negotiations, generating "cause-consciousness." It also describes key elements of nonviolent strategy and tactics, pertaining to issues such as initiative, timing, numbers and strength, psychological elements, application of an Indirect approach, the choice of weapons (as described in Vol. 2), and the issuance of an ultimatum.
Chapter 10 describes how the onset of nonviolent action is likely to bring various types of oppression, and reviews examples and approaches for withstanding increasing repression, which is imperative, because "without willingness to face repression... the nonviolent action movement cannot hope to succeed." Chapter 11 describes methods for maintaining the nonviolent group's solidarity, such as "Maintaining rapport" through regular mass meetings. Chapter 11 also extensively analyzes the threats against and needs for ongoing adherence to nonviolent discipline, "in order to bring into operation the changes that will alter relationships and achieve [the] objectives," even as "the opponent... tries to provoke them to commit violence - with which he could deal more effectively."
Chapter 12 covers "political jiu-jitsu... one of the special processes by which nonviolent action deals with violent repression." More specifically: By combining nonviolent discipline with solidarity and persistence in struggle, the nonviolent actionists cause the violence of the opponent's repression to be exposed in the worst possible light. This, in turn, may lead to shifts in opinion and then to shifts in power relationships favorable to the nonviolent group. These shifts result from withdrawal of support for the opponent and the grant of support to the nonviolent actionists. This chapter provides numerous historical examples of such political jiu-jitsu, and analyzes such factors as the impact of third party opinion and international indignation, arousing dissent and opposition in the opponent's own camp, and increasing support and participation from the grievance group.
Three Ways Success May Be Achieved (Chapter 13) describes and analyzes conversion, accommodation, and nonviolent coercion. These represent "three broad processes, or mechanisms, by which the complicated forces utilized and produced by nonviolent action influence the opponent and his capacity for action and thereby perhaps bring success to the cause of the grievance group": In conversion the opponent has been inwardly changed so that he wants to make the changes desired by the nonviolent actionists. In accommodation, the opponent does not agree with the changes... and he could continue the struggle... but... has concluded that it is best to grant some or all of the demands.... In nonviolent coercion the opponent has not changed his mind on the issues and wants to continue the struggle, but is unable to do so; the sources of his power and means of control have been taken away from him without the use of violence . This may have been done by the nonviolent group or by the opposition and noncooperation among his own group (as, mutiny of his troops), or some combination of these.