Book Summary of Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defense by Gene Sharp
Citation:
Gene Sharp. Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defense. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing, 1985, 250 pp.
This Book Summary written by: Conflict Research Consortium Staff
Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defense argues that civilian based nonviolent deterrence and defense
is a viable alternative to conventional military approaches to national security.
Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defense will be of interest to those seeking
alternatives to violent conflict. This work is divided into seven
chapters, with preface and bibliography.
Chapter One examines Europe's (then) current security and
defense needs. Pursuing national security through military superiority
is expensive, promotes dangerous arms races, and may be ultimately
ineffective. Sharp returns to an examination of the basic concepts of defense, deterrence,
and security, to search for innovative
approaches to national security. Chapter Two introduces the concept of
civilian-based defense. "Civilian-based defense aims to deter and defeat attacks
by making a society ungovernable by would be oppressors
and by maintaining a capacity for orderly self-rule even in the face of
extreme threats and actual aggression."[54] Sharp illustrates the
feasibility of civilian defense with historical examples, including France and Algerian
independence in 1961, and the Czechoslovakian resistance
to Soviet invasion in 1968-9. From these "improvised prototypes"
Sharp develops a policy of civilian defense. Chapter Three describes the
transarmament process, which is "the process of changing over from a military
system to a civilian-based defense system."[67] A national
policy of civilian-based defense is compatible with a variety of international
stances: purely defensive, highly internationally participatory, even offensive
or expansionist. However, Sharp does argue that civilian defense is
fundamentally linked with democratic social and political ideals.
Chapters Four through Six discuss the mechanisms of civilian defense, and
describe how such an approach can be effective in deterring, defending
and defeating attacks. Chapter Four focuses on deterrence. Civilian
defense serves to deter both internal and external usurpation,
by nonviolently resisting the attackers objectives, and refusing to
grant legitimacy to the attackers rule. Nonviolent resistance and noncooperation
must be employed to increase the attackers costs to unacceptable
levels. To be an effective deterrent, the presence of a strong civilian-based
defense policy must be publicized. Should such deterrence fail,
civilian-based defense is also an effective form of close encounter defense. "Civilian-based
defense is the direct defense of society as such - its principles, free institutions,
and liberties - rather than a futile attempt to
defend territory as an indirect means to defend society."[110]
Chapter Five suggests specific techniques of civilian defense, including nonviolent
Blitzkrieg, communication and warning. Chapter Six describes longer term strategies
to force an attacker's withdrawal. Resistance
strategies range from massive total resistance to a variety of selective
resistances. Sharp suggests six major questions which should be considered when
selecting a long term strategy.
In his final chapter Sharp assesses the potential effectiveness of civilian-
defense for various nations within the Cold War context.
Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian-Based Deterrence and Defense is an intriguing investigation into the
defensive uses of nonviolent action.
|