Dictatorships usually exist primarily because of the internal power distribution in the home country. The population and society are too weak to cause the dictatorship serious problems, wealth and power are concentrated in too few hands. Although dictatorships may benefit from or be somewhat weakened by international actions, their continuation is dependent primarily on internal factors.
Gene SharpThat is straight out of Gandhi. If people are not afraid of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble. โฆ If you fight with violence, you are fighting with your enemyโs best weapon, and you may be a brave but dead hero.
Gene SharpNonviolent action involves opposing the opponent's power, including his police and military capacity, not with the weapons chosen by him but by quite different means. Repression by the opponent is used against his own power position in a kind of political "ju-jitsu" and the very sources of his power thus reduced or removed, with the result that his political and military position is seriously weakened or destroyed.
Gene SharpContrary to popular opinion, even totalitarian dictatorships are dependent on the population and the societies they rule.
Gene Sharp