Dictatorships are never as strong as they think they are, and people are never as weak as they think they are.
Gene SharpSome foreign states will act against a dictatorship only to gain their own economic, political, or military control over the country.
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 Sharp