This nationally-acclaimed book shows how popular movements used nonviolent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall depict how nonviolent sanctions–such as protests, strikes and boycotts–separate brutal regimes from their means of control. They tell inside stories–how Danes outmaneuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator–and also how nonviolent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia.

This nationally-acclaimed book shows how popular movements used nonviolent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall depict how nonviolent sanctions—such as protests, strikes and boycotts—separate brutal regimes from their means of control. They tell inside stories—how Danes outmaneuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator—and also how nonviolent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia.

In this volume, Peter Ackerman, an authority on non-violent strategy, and Jack DuVall, a veteran writer, show how popular movements used non-violent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. A cavalcade of far-flung locations and history-changing crises, the book depicts how non-violent sanctions such as protests, strikes and boycotts separate brutal regimes from their means of control. It tells inside stories – how Danes out-manoeuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator. It also shows how non-violent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia. Covering characters such as Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Gandhi, Lech Walesa and the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina, the book is a companion to a feature-length documentary showing at film festivals worldwide.

A Force More Powerful challenges a longstanding myth that lies at the heart of much of the turmoil of the 20th century: that power comes from the barrel of a gun; based on convincing detail, Ackerman and Duvall dare to claim that nonviolent movements lead to more secure democracies.

In 2000, a book titled “A Force More Powerful” by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall told the neglected history of nonviolent movements that averted wars, overthrew dictators and secured human rights by using the courts, promoting dialogue, mounting public protests, strikes and boycotts. Failure to consider these options and a lack of general awareness of how effective they have been supports the lie that the use of force is the only way to solve problems.

This nationally-acclaimed book shows how popular movements used nonviolent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall depict how nonviolent sanctions--such as protests, strikes and boycotts--separate brutal regimes from their means of control. They tell inside stories--how Danes outmaneuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator--and also how nonviolent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia.