Blueprint for Revolution summary

Movements are built to inspire action, but that’s easier said than done. To really get people moving, you need a vision of the future that your followers can support. In the case of the Serbian Otpor! movement, this dream focused on openness to the world, a powerful aspiration that led to the overthrow of the country’s dictator, Slobodan Milošević.

Here’s the story:

In 1973, a political science professor named Gene Sharp introduced a cutting-edge theory. He postulated that every regime is propped up by a handful of supports that he called the pillars of power. If you apply sufficient pressure to one or more of these pillars, the regime will topple.

The same logic can be applied to any institution. Just take large corporations. Their pillars of power are shareholders and the media outlets that influence stock prices through their reporting. Or consider a small African village, for which the pillars of power might be tribal elders.

Anyone who enjoys a good laugh knows that humor is a near magical force; that’s why activists love to use comedy to build the resistance.

How?

Authoritarian regimes regularly try to force the compliance of their subjects. But whether they dish out punishments for disobeying orders or simply make a calculated effort to intimidate, there are times when such shows of brute force work against those deploying them.

Just consider the famous Saffron Revolution in Burma, which began following a brutal act of oppression by the military regime.

When most people hear the word “revolution,” they imagine an absolute bloodbath – a moment when violence is both inevitable and necessary. However, a wealth of historical knowledge and data shows us that nonviolent revolutions are actually more effective in terms of producing positive change.

That’s because peaceful revolutions are more likely to create vibrant democracies. Just take a 2011 study penned by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, which considered statistics from 323 revolutions between 1900 and 2006.