Much more seriously, Sharp does not bring to bear the understanding of the human psyche that has developed over the last century or so. These ideas have great explanatory power when it comes to thinking about how and why regimes or leaders gain and lose legitimacy, which in turn is at the very core of understanding nonviolent struggle. Furthermore Sharp does not have much time for the media—as I have suggested, television was at the heart of Europe’s revolution, but there is no time for that in his book, let alone for the Internet or a blog. This all adds up to a disconnectedness that runs right through the book; indeed Sharp’s footnotes all too often, sometimes overwhelmingly so, only cite his own previous work.

Unlike most academics, Sharp is a practitioner as well as a writer, having considerable courage to roll his sleeves up and get his hands dirty at the political sharp end, in Latvia in 1991 and particularly in Tiananmen Square in 1989. For this he is due great respect, but in this book at least, it is a pity he has pursued his own version of the Sinatra Doctrine.