Gene Sharp

{{Gene Sharp}}

Sharp was born in North Baltimore, Ohio, the son of an itinerant Protestant minister.Philip Shishkin (September 13, 2008). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122127204268531319 "American Revolutionary: Quiet Boston Scholar Inspires Rebels Around the World"]{{subscription required}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415201314/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122127204268531319 |date=April 15, 2017 }}. Wall Street Journal, p. A1. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences in 1949 from Ohio State University, where he also received his Master of Arts in Sociology in 1951.{{cite web |url=http://www.peace.ca/genesharp.htm |title=GENE SHARP A Biographical Profile |publisher=Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace |access-date=February 22, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217052305/http://www.peace.ca/genesharp.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} In 1953–54, Sharp was jailed for nine months after protesting the conscription of soldiers for the Korean War. He discussed his decision to go to prison for his beliefs in letters to Albert Einstein, who wrote a foreword to his first book on Gandhi.{{cite web|url=http://www.rightlivelihood.org/sharp.html|title=Right Livelihood Award: Laureates Detail|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119073941/http://www.rightlivelihood.org/sharp.html|archive-date=January 19, 2013|df=mdy-all}} He worked as factory laborer, guide to a blind social worker, and secretary to A. J. Muste, America's leading pacifist. Between 1955 and 1958, he was Assistant Editor of Peace News (London), the weekly pacifist newspaper from where he helped organize the 1958 Aldermaston March. The next two years he studied and researched in Oslo with Professor Arne Næss, who together with Johan Galtung drew extensively from Mohandas Gandhi's writings in developing the Satyagraha Norms.Sharp, Gene, Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power, Ahmedabad 1960, p. X, XI In 1968, he received a Doctor of Philosophy in political theory from Oxford University. Funding for Sharp's research at this time came from the DARPA project of the US Department of Defense.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/should-scientists-and-engineers-resist-taking-military-money/|title=Should Scientists and Engineers Resist Taking Military Money?|last=Horgan|first=John|website=Scientific American Blog Network|language=en|access-date=2019-08-29}}

Sharp was appointed a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 1972. He held research appointments at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs from 1965.

In 1983 he founded Harvard's Program on Nonviolent Sanctions in Conflict and Defense (PNS), which "continued in the spirit of its founder"{{cite journal |last1=Anonymous |title=In Memoriam: Gene Sharp, 1928–2018 |journal=Centerpiece |date=Spring 2018 |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=16 |url=https://wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/centerpiece/spring2018/in_memoriam |publisher=Weatherhead Center for International Affairs |language=en |oclc=705875366}} and in 1995 was merged with another Harvard organization.

In 1983 Sharp also founded the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization devoted to studies and promotion of the use of nonviolent action in conflicts worldwide.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations9173.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112012144/http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations9173.html|url-status=dead|title=Gene Sharp biography at Albert Einstein Institution web site.|archive-date=January 12, 2010}} In 2004, the Albert Einstein Institution lost much of its funding (with income dropping from more than $1m a year to as little as $160,000), and from then on was run out of Sharp's home in East Boston, near Logan Airport.{{cite news |author=John-Paul Flintoff |title=Gene Sharp: The Machiavelli of Nonviolence |newspaper=New Statesman |date=January 3, 2013 |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/your-democracy/2013/01/gene-sharp-machiavelli-non-violence |issn=1364-7431 |oclc=4588945 |access-date=December 1, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112095409/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/your-democracy/2013/01/gene-sharp-machiavelli-non-violence |archive-date=November 12, 2014 |df=mdy-all}}

In 2012, he received the Zambrano Foundation Distinguished Lifetime Democracy Award.{{cite web|title=The Zambrano Foundation has announced The First Annual Democracy Symposium in The Americas 2012|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-zambrano-foundation-has-announced-the-first-annual-democracy-symposium-in-the-americas-2012-170510256.html|date=September 20, 2012|publisher=PR Newswire|access-date=October 3, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029012256/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-zambrano-foundation-has-announced-the-first-annual-democracy-symposium-in-the-americas-2012-170510256.html|archive-date=October 29, 2012|df=mdy-all}} The article states that Sharp will receive the award at a symposium that "will take place on November 15 and 16 at the Alumni Center, University of Miami, Florida."{{better source needed|press release via unreliable site|date=October 2022}}

Sharp died on January 28, 2018, at home in Boston, having just turned 90.{{cite news|last1=Pratt|first1=Mark|title=Gene Sharp, advocate for nonviolent resistance, dies at 90|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gene-sharp-advocate-nonviolent-resistance-dies-90-52710416|access-date=30 January 2018|work=ABC News|date=January 30, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130221340/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gene-sharp-advocate-nonviolent-resistance-dies-90-52710416|archive-date=January 30, 2018|df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/obituaries/gene-sharp-global-guru-of-nonviolent-resistance-dies-at-90.html|title=Gene Sharp, Global Guru of Nonviolent Resistance, Dies at 90|first=Sam|last=Roberts|date=February 2, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203024454/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/obituaries/gene-sharp-global-guru-of-nonviolent-resistance-dies-at-90.html|archive-date=February 3, 2018|df=mdy-all|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Gene Sharp described the sources of his ideas as in-depth studies of Mohandas K. Gandhi, A. J. Muste,[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/t-magazine/gene-sharp-theorist-of-power.html The Quiet American, by Janine Di Giovanni] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301184830/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/t-magazine/gene-sharp-theorist-of-power.html |date=March 1, 2017 }} (NYTimes, September 3, 2012) Quote: 'After his release in 1954, Sharp worked for A. J. Muste, whom he calls “the most famous American pacifist.”' Henry David Thoreau to a minor degree, and other sources footnoted in his 1973 book The Politics of Nonviolent Action, which was based on his 1968 PhD thesis. In the book, he provides a pragmatic political analysis of nonviolent action as a method for applying power in a conflict. The second volume of the book includes 198 methods of nonviolent action. The list has been regularly used by activists and been expanded on in reports for the International Center of Nonviolent Conflict to include digital and other tactics.{{Cite web |last=International Center on Nonviolent Conflict |last2=Beer |first2=Michael |date=2021-04-16 |title=Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century: Report and Webinar |url=https://commonslibrary.org/civil-resistance-tactics-in-the-21st-century/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Commons Socail Change Library |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |last=Joyce |first=Mary |last2=Meier |first2=Patrick |date=2019-11-02 |title=198 Nonviolent Methods Upgraded |url=https://commonslibrary.org/198-nonviolent-methods-upgraded/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}

Sharp's key theme is that power is not monolithic; that is, it does not derive from some intrinsic quality of those who are in power. For Sharp, political power, the power of any state – regardless of its particular structural organization – ultimately derives from the subjects of the state. His fundamental belief is that any power structure relies upon the subjects' obedience to the orders of the ruler(s). If subjects do not obey, rulers have no power.

In Sharp's view, all effective power structures have systems by which they encourage or extract obedience from their subjects. States have particularly complex systems for keeping subjects obedient. These systems include specific institutions (police, courts, regulatory bodies, etc.), but may also involve cultural dimensions that inspire obedience by implying that power is monolithic (the god cult of the Egyptian pharaohs, the dignity of the office of the president, moral or ethical norms and taboos, etc.). Through these systems, subjects are presented with a system of sanctions (imprisonment, fines, ostracism) and rewards (titles, wealth, fame) which influence the extent of their obedience.

Sharp identifies this hidden structure as providing a window of opportunity for a population to cause significant change in a state. Sharp cites the insight of Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) that if the subjects of a particular state recognize that they are the source of the state's power, they can refuse their obedience and their leader(s) will be left without power.

Sharp published Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential in 2005. It builds on his earlier written works and documents case studies where nonviolent action has been applied, presents the lessons learned from those applications, and contains information on planning nonviolent struggle to make it more effective.

"How to Start a Revolution", a feature documentary by the Scottish director Ruaridh Arrow about the global influence of Gene Sharp's work, was released in September 2011. The film won "Best Documentary" and the "Mass Impact Award" at the Boston Film Festival in September 2011.{{cite news|first=Will |last=Travers |title=How to Start a Revolution premieres at Boston Film Festival, wins awards |newspaper=Waging Nonviolence |date=27 September 2011 |url=http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/09/how-to-start-a-revolution-premieres-at-boston-film-festival-wins-awards/|access-date=28 August 2019}} The European premiere was held at London's Raindance Film Festival on October 2, 2011, where it also won Best Documentary.{{cite web |url=http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?id=543,7826,0,0,1,0 |title=How To Start A Revolution|access-date=2011-09-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012024412/http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?id=543,7826,0,0,1,0 |archive-date=October 12, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} (accessed September 8, 2011) A biography of Gene Sharp by Ruaridh Arrow based on the documentary was released in 2020.{{cite web | url=https://peacenews.info/node/9911/ruaridh-arrow-gene-sharp-how-start-revolution | title=Ruaridh Arrow, Gene Sharp: How to Start a Revolution | Peace News }}

Sharp has been called both the "Machiavelli of nonviolence" and the "Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare."{{cite book | last = Weber | first = Thomas|title = Gandhi as Disciple and Mentor|publisher= Cambridge University Press |location =Cambridge| date =2 December 2004|oclc=252532988|isbn = 9780521842303| url = https://archive.org/details/gandhiasdisciple0000webe | url-access = registration | quote = Gandhi as disciple and mentor.|page =232|df= mdy-all}} It is claimed by some{{Who|date=August 2021}} that Sharp's scholarship has influenced resistance organizations around the world. His works remain the ideological underpinning of the work for the Serbian-based nonviolent conflict training group the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies which helped to train the key activists in the protest movement that toppled President Mubarak of Egypt, and many other earlier youth movements in the Eastern European color revolutions.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Sharp's 1993 handbook From Dictatorship to Democracy{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ThfnNG68vMC|title=From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209144939/http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf|archive-date=February 9, 2006|publisher=The Albert Einstein Institution|year=2003|oclc=265896720|isbn=9781880813096}}[http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf PDF version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209144939/http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf |date=February 9, 2006 }} was first published in Burma, fourth edition in 2010. It has since been translated into at least 31 other languages.{{cite web|url=http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf |title=From Dictatorship To Democracy|access-date=2006-02-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209144939/http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf |archive-date=February 9, 2006 |df=mdy }} It has served as a basis for the campaigns of Serbia's Otpor! (who were also directly trained by the Albert Einstein Institution{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}), Georgia's Kmara, Kyrgyzstan's KelKel and Belarus' Zubr. {{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}PORA's Oleh Kyriyenko said in a 2004 interview with Radio Netherlands,

:"The bible of Pora has been the book of Gene Sharp, also used by Otpor!, it's called: From Dictatorship to Democracy. Pora activists have translated it by themselves. We have written to Mr Sharp and to the Albert Einstein Institute in the United States, and he became very sympathetic towards our initiative, and the Institution provided funding to print over 12,000 copies of this book for free."{{cite news | url=http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/easterneurope/ukr041125 | title=Radio Netherlands | access-date=2011-02-13 | date=February 13, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920093255/http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/easterneurope/ukr041125 | archive-date=September 20, 2008 | df=mdy-all }}

Sharp's writings on "Civilian-based defense"[See, for example, {{cite web |url=http://aeinstein.org/organizationsd7c2.html |title=Civilian-Based Defense|access-date=2006-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404183000/http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsd7c2.html |archive-date=April 4, 2006 |df=mdy-all }} Sharp, Gene] Civilian-based Defense were used by the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian governments during their separation from the Soviet Union in 1991. Lithuanian Defence Minister Audrius Butkevicius declared at the time, "I would rather have this book than the nuclear bomb".

The Iranian government charged protesters against alleged fraud in the 2009 elections with following Gene Sharp's tactics. The Tehran Times reported: "According to the indictment, a number of the accused confessed that the post-election unrest was preplanned and the plan was following the timetable of the velvet revolution to the extent that over 100 stages of the 198 steps of Gene Sharp were implemented in the foiled velvet revolution."[Tehran Times, August 2, 2009, {{cite web |url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=200033 |title=Trial of Iran detainees held|date=August 2009 |access-date=2009-08-02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815122257/http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=200033 |archive-date=August 15, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}]

Former members of the IRA are reported to be studying his work.{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/your-democracy/2013/01/gene-sharp-machiavelli-non-violence|title=Gene Sharp: The Machiavelli of non-violence|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112095409/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/your-democracy/2013/01/gene-sharp-machiavelli-non-violence|archive-date=November 12, 2014|df=mdy-all}}

Sharp and his work have been profiled in numerous media;For example, a profile by CNN, written by Mairi Mackay (June 25, 2012). [http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/23/world/gene-sharp-revolutionary/index.html "Gene Sharp: A dictator's worst nightmare"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625174447/http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/23/world/gene-sharp-revolutionary/index.html |date=June 25, 2012 }}, CNNWorld (accessed June 27, 2012). however, some have claimed Sharp's influence has been exaggerated by Westerners looking for a Lawrence of Arabia figure.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1297656097-vGFYS7755whguQSAOstilA | title=A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History | access-date=2011-02-13 | last1=Kirkpatrick | first1=David | last2=Sanger | first2=David | date=February 13, 2011 | work=New York Times | page=1 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210183656/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1297656097-vGFYS7755whguQSAOstilA | archive-date=December 10, 2011 | df=mdy-all }}Walker, Jesse (February 25, 2011) [http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/25/teaching-people-power/singlepage Teaching People Power] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301100931/http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/25/teaching-people-power/singlepage |date=March 1, 2011 }}, Reason

Coverage of Gene Sharp's influence in the Egyptian revolution produced a backlash from some Egyptian bloggers. One, journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy, stated that "Not only was Mubarak's foreign policy hated and despised by the Egyptian people, but parallels were always drawn between the situation of the Egyptian people and their Palestinian brothers and sisters. The latter have been the major source of inspiration, not Gene Sharp, whose name I first heard in my life only in February after we toppled Mubarak already and whom the clueless NYT moronically gives credit for our uprising."{{cite web |url=http://www.arabawy.org/2011/04/17/fm-nabil-fahmy-this-revolution-actually-serves-israel-as-well/ |title=Nabil Fahmy: 'This revolution actually serves Israel as well' |access-date=2011-04-28 |date=April 17, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425220549/http://www.arabawy.org/2011/04/17/fm-nabil-fahmy-this-revolution-actually-serves-israel-as-well/ |archive-date=April 25, 2011 |df=mdy-all}} Another Egyptian writer and activist, Karim Alrawi, argued that Gene Sharp's writings are more about regime change than revolution. He defines the latter as having an ethical as well as a material dimension that Sharp deliberately avoids engaging with, and credits local circumstances and the spark provided by the Tunisian revolution for the Egyptian success.Karim Alrawi, [http://www.karimalrawi.com/writer/Writers_Blog/Entries/2012/4/3_The_Hype_that_is_Gene_Sharp_I.html "Gene Sharp & Egypt's Revolution"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809071515/http://www.karimalrawi.com/writer/Writers_Blog/Entries/2012/4/3_The_Hype_that_is_Gene_Sharp_I.html |date=August 9, 2012}}

However, evidence and testimony from four different activist groups working in Egypt at the time of the revolution contradict these claims. Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian blogger and activist, said that activists translated excerpts of Sharp's work into Arabic, and that his message of "attacking weaknesses of dictators" stuck with them.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |work=The New York Times |title=Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution |date=February 16, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228181835/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |archive-date=February 28, 2017 |df=mdy-all}} Ahmed Maher, a leader of the April 6 democracy group, also stated in the How to Start a Revolution documentary, "Gene Sharp's books had a huge impact" among other influences.{{cite web |url=http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/155/transcript_155.pdf |title=How to Start a Revolution - transcripts|access-date=2013-02-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105174920/http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/155/transcript_155.pdf |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |df=mdy-all}} The Associated Press reported as early as September 2010 more than four months before the revolution that Gene Sharp's work was being used by activists in Egypt close to political leader Mohamed ElBaradei.Sara El Deeb (Sep 16, 2010), [https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/9267868 "Egypt's youth build new opposition movement"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224154953/http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/9267868 |date=December 24, 2014 }}, The Guardian, (accessed December 3, 2011) Finally The New York Times reported that Sharp's book From Dictatorship to Democracy had been posted by the Muslim Brotherhood on its website during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all|title=Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution|date=December 16, 2011|work=New York Times|access-date=December 18, 2011|first=Sheryl Gay|last=Stolberg|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114043516/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all|archive-date=January 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}

According to Stuart Bramhall in Daily Censored, in 2005 Gene Sharp was accused by Thierry Meyssan in VoltaireNet of having strong links with a variety of US institutions including the Central Intelligence Agency, The Pentagon, International Republican Institute, RAND Corporation, and the National Endowment for Democracy.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycensored.com/the-cia-and-nonviolent-resistance-3/|author=Stuart Bramhall|title=The CIA and Nonviolent Resistance|website=Daily Censored|date=21 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503221026/http://www.dailycensored.com/the-cia-and-nonviolent-resistance-3/|archive-date=May 3, 2013|df=mdy-all}}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2022}}

There has been debate around Sharp's works influencing the Arab Spring,{{cite web|url=https://globalvoices.org/2011/04/15/egypt-gene-sharp-taught-us-how-to-revolt/|title=Egypt: Gene Sharp Taught Us How To Revolt! · Global Voices|date=April 15, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023230600/https://globalvoices.org/2011/04/15/egypt-gene-sharp-taught-us-how-to-revolt/|archive-date=October 23, 2016|df=mdy-all}} and a leaked US embassy cable mentioned Syrian dissidents using his work to train non-violent protestors,{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/201112113179492201.html|title=Q&A: Gene Sharp|first=Gene|last=Sharp|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020135359/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/201112113179492201.html|archive-date=October 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}} but As'ad AbuKhalil rejected such claims.{{cite web|url=http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2169|title=How to Start a Revolution: Or the Delusions of Gene Sharp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501072122/http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2169|archive-date=May 1, 2013|df=mdy-all|access-date=April 14, 2013}}

Sharp consistently denied these claims and, after a period of sustained attacks in June 2008, notable left wing writers Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, among others, defended Sharp in a letter which was circulated by US and internationally based scholars and activists, including the statement,

{{blockquote|Rather than being a tool of imperialism, Dr. Sharp’s research and writings have inspired generations of progressive peace, labor, feminist, human rights, environmental, and social justice activists in the United States and around the world.

The Albert Einstein Institution has never received any money from any government or government-funded entity. Nor does Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution collaborate with the CIA, the NED, or any U.S. government or government-funded agencies; nor has Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution ever provided financial or logistical support to any opposition groups in any country; nor has Dr. Sharp or the Albert Einstein Institution ever taken sides in political conflicts or engaged in strategic planning with any group.

The Albert Einstein Institution operates with a very minimal budget out of Dr. Sharp's home with a staff consisting of two people – Dr. Sharp and a young administrator – and is quite incapable of carrying out the foreign intrigues of which it has been falsely accused.{{cite web |url=http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Open-Letter_Academics_Zunes.pdf |title=Open Letter in Support of Gene Sharp and Strategic Nonviolent Action |access-date=2013-06-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916143844/http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Open-Letter_Academics_Zunes.pdf |archive-date=September 16, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}}}

More recently Sharp has been criticised by George Ciccariello-Maher and Michael A. Lebowitz, the latter describing his activities in Venezuela as "marketing regime change" to willing consumers.{{Cite web|url=https://mronline.org/2015/11/26/lebowitz261115-html/|title=MR Online {{!}} Red Is the Primary Color of the Rainbow|last1=America|first1=Michael A. Lebowitz Latin|last2=Lebanon|date=2015-11-26|website=MR Online|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-29|last3=Russia|last4=Serbia|last5=Ukraine|last6=Commentary|first6=Venezuela}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u29HCgAAQBAJ&q=george+Ciccariello-Maher.+gene+sharp&pg=PT49|title=Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela|last=Ciccariello-Maher|first=George|date=2016-11-01|publisher=Verso Books|isbn=9781784782245|language=en}} Anarchist Peter Gelderloos accuses Sharp of overstating his theory's relevance to the 2011 Egyptian revolution for personal aggrandizement.{{Cite book|url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/peacejustice/Gelderloos-Failure-of-Nonviolence.pdf|title=The Failure of Nonviolence|last=Gelderloos|first=Peter|publisher=Left Bank Books|year=2015|pages=75}} In an interview in Jacobin, law graduate and adjunct lecturer Marcie Smith has stated that Sharp's theories are "ideologically incoherent" and put "protest movements in a position where they can be easily co-opted" by neoliberal capitalism.Marcetic, Branko (Sep. 4, 2019). [https://jacobinmag.com/2019/06/gene-sharp-cold-war-intellectual-marcie-smith "Gene Sharp, the Cold War Intellectual Whose Ideas Seduced the Left."] Interview with Marcie Smith. Jacobin.

Sharp's major works, including both authored and edited books, have been published since the 1950s.

• [https://archive.org/download/gandhiwieldsweap00shar/gandhiwieldsweap00shar.pdf Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories.] Foreword by Albert Einstein. Introduction by Bharatan Kumarappa. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1960. {{OCLC|2325889}}
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=nag9AAAAIAAJ Gandhi Faces the Storm.] Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1961. {{OCLC|4990988}}
• Civilian Defense: An Introduction, ed. with Adam Roberts and T.K. Mahadevan. Introduction by President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and New Delhi: Gandhi Peace Foundation, 1967. {{OCLC|2904885}}

• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0082F02 Exploring Nonviolent Alternatives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115002513/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0082F02 |date=January 15, 2023 }}, Introduction by David Riesman. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1970.
• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0036F01 Correcting Common Misconceptions about Nonviolent Action.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115120351/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0036F01 |date=January 15, 2023 }} Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 1973.
• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0025F01 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115003601/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0025F01 |date=January 15, 2023 }} Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 1973.
• The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Introduction by Thomas C. Schelling. Prepared under the auspices of Harvard University's Center for International Affairs. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-068-5}}.

::*I. Power and Struggle, June 1973. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-070-8}}.

::*II. The Methods of Nonviolent Action, June 1973. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-071-5}}.

::*III. Dynamics of Nonviolent Action. Boston: Porter Sargent, November 1985. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-072-2}}.

• Gandhi as a Political Strategist, with Essays on Ethics and Politics, Introduction by Coretta Scott King. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1979. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-092-0}}. {{OCLC|5591944}}.

::*Indian edition. Introduction by Dr. Federico Mayor. Original Introduction by Coretta Scott King, New Delhi: Gandhi Media Centre, 1999. {{OCLC|52226697}}.

• Social Power and Political Freedom. Introduction by Senator Mark O. Hatfield. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1980. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-091-3}}.
• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0085F02 "The Political Equivalent of War—Civilian-Based Defense" (Chapter 9).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115001255/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0085F02 |date=January 15, 2023 }} In: Social Power and Political Freedom. Introduction by Senator Mark O. Hatfield. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1980, pp. 195–257. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-091-3}}.
• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/item/238 Annotated Bibliography on Training For Non-Violent Action and Civilian-Based Defence] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114232229/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/item/238 |date=January 14, 2023 }}, with Michael Randle. In: UNESCO Yearbook on Peace and Conflict Studies, 1981. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981, [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/item/238 pp. 64-139.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114232229/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/item/238 |date=January 14, 2023 }}
• National Security Through Civilian-based Defense. Omaha: Association for Transarmament Studies, 1985. {{ISBN|978-0-9614256-0-9}}.
• Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-based Deterrence and Defense (see article). London: Taylor & Francis, 1985. {{ISBN|978-0-85066-336-5}}; Second Edition with a Foreword by George F. Kennan. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986.
• Resistance, Politics, and the American Struggle for Independence, 1765-1775 (see article), ed. with Walter Conser, Jr., Ronald M. McCarthy, and David J. Toscano. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1986. {{ISBN|0931477751}}.

• [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0087F02 "Transitions to Civilian-Based Defense."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115111023/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0087F02 |date=January 15, 2023 }} CBD News & Opinion, May/July 1990, [https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0087F02 pp. 6-9.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115111023/https://nonviolence.rutgers.edu/document/IIP0087F02 |date=January 15, 2023 }}
• Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System, with the assistance of Bruce Jenkins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|978-0-691-07809-0}}.
• From Dictatorship to Democracy: A conceptual framework for liberation (see article). Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-880813-09-6}}. A book-length essay on the generic problem of how to destroy a dictatorship and to prevent the rise of a new one. Originally published in 1994.
• Nonviolent Action: A Research Guide, with Ronald McCarthy. New York: Garland Publishers, 1997.

• [https://www.aeinstein.org/digital-library There are Realistic Alternatives], 2003. {{ISBN|1-880813-12-2}}. Accessible as a LibriVox [http://librivox.org/there-are-realistic-alternatives-by-gene-sharp/ audiobook].
• Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential, with Joshua Paulson. Extending Horizons Books, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-87558-162-0}}.
• [https://www.aeinstein.org/digital-library Self-Liberation: A Guide to Strategic Planning for Action to End a Dictatorship or Other Oppression], with the assistance of Jamila Raqib. Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, November 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-88-081323-2}}.

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=dPhMAgAAQBAJ Sharp's Dictionary of Power and Struggle.] Oxford University Press, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-19-982988-0}}.
• [https://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/How-Nonviolent-Struggle-Works.pdf How Nonviolent Struggle Works] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129185515/https://aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/How-Nonviolent-Struggle-Works.pdf |date=November 29, 2022 }}, with Jaime Gonzalez Bernal. Boston: Albert Einstein Institution, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-880813-15-7}}. A condensation of Sharp's Politics of Nonviolent Action.According to Gene Sharp's Preface to How Nonviolent Struggle Works (2013): "The present text is an extreme abridgement of the published The Politics of Nonviolent Action. The original condensation was prepared by Jaime Gonzalez Bernal in Spanish in Mexico and published as La Lucha Politica Nonviolenta.... in March 1988... The English language text here is primarily Mr. Glozalez Bernal's condensation returned to English. It has been evaluated and edited with the important assistance of Caridad Inda. She has made major contributions to this text from 1987 to this edition in 2013. I have made limited recent changes and additions to both the English and the Spanish texts and have changed the title to How Nonviolent Struggle Works" (pp. xi–xii).

{{cols|colwidth=21em}}

• Ahimsa
• Civilian-based defense
• Civil resistance
• Joan Bondurant
• List of peace activists
• Nonviolent resistance
• Power
• Srđa Popović (activist)
• Transarmament

{{colend}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{wikisource|Author:Gene Sharp|Gene Sharp}}

{{commons category|Gene Sharp}}

• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gene Sharp}}
• {{Librivox author |id=3240}}
• [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Sharp%2C%20Gene Works by Gene Sharp] at The Online Books Page

• {{cite web | title=Dr. Gene Sharp,1928-2018 | website=Albert Einstein Institution | url=https://www.aeinstein.org/dr-gene-sharp/ | access-date=April 26, 2021 | archive-date=April 5, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405061117/https://www.aeinstein.org/dr-gene-sharp/ | url-status=dead }}
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/12/gene-sharp-obituary Gene Sharp obituary: Political Scientist and Author who was the Leading Theorist of Non-violent Protest and Resistance], by Adam Roberts, Guardian website, 12 February 2018.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110217052305/http://www.peace.ca/genesharp.htm Gene Sharp: A Biographical Profile] (February 17, 2011)

• [http://www.newint.org/features/1997/11/05/interview/ Interview: Gene Sharp], Noreen Shanahan, The New Internationalist, November 5, 1997
• [http://reason.com/archives/2011/02/25/teaching-people-power/singlepage Teaching People Power], interview with Reason magazine (February 25, 2011)
• [http://www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v19n3p16.htm Gene Sharp 101], Metta Spencer, Peace Magazine, July–Sept 2003
• [https://www.flintoff.org/power-and-how-to-seize-it 198 Ways To Seize Power Without Anyone Getting Hurt], John-Paul Flintoff, Flintoff.org, January 3, 2013

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12522848 Gene Sharp: Author of the nonviolent revolution rulebook], Ruaridh Arrow (director of "Gene Sharp – How to Start a Revolution" film), BBC News, February 21, 2011
• [https://www.howtostartarevolution.org How to Start a Revolution official Movie site] Documentary about the work of Gene Sharp

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111210183655/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A18395-2000Dec3?language=printer U.S. Advice Guided Milosevic Opposition], Michael Dobbs, Washington Post, December 11, 2000
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080920093255/http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/easterneurope/ukr041125 Ukraine: The Resistance Will Not Stop], Margreet Strijbosch, Radio Netherlands, November 25, 2004
• [http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/52417-dictator-slayer/ The dictator slayer], Adam Reilly, The Boston Phoenix, December 5, 2007
• [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122127204268531319?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one American Revolutionary: Quiet Boston Scholar Inspires Rebels Around the World], Philip Shishkin, Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2008; Page A1.
• [https://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/12/20/iran_dissidents_draw_ideas_from_us_visionaries/ Revolution of the mind], Farah Stockman, Boston Globe, December 20, 2009
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution], Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times, February 16, 2011
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/t-magazine/gene-sharp-theorist-of-power.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www The Quiet American], Janine Di Giovanni, The New York Times, September 3, 2012.

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