Gene Sharp was an American political scientist and the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, widely recognized as the world’s foremost scholar on nonviolent revolution.
He is best known for his seminal work From Dictatorship to Democracy, a 93-page handbook outlining 198 methods of nonviolent action, which has been translated into over 40 languages and used in uprisings across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.
The 2011 British documentary How to Start a Revolution, directed by Ruaridh Arrow, chronicles Sharp’s life and global influence. The film, which won a BAFTA Scotland Award for New Talent and was screened at major film festivals including Raindance and Boston, highlights how Sharp’s theories inspired movements such as the Serbian Otpor! campaign, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution, and the Arab Spring. It features interviews with activists from Egypt, Syria, Ukraine, and Serbia, including Srdja Popović, Ahmed Maher, and Jamila Raqib, who credit Sharp’s work as foundational to their strategies.