Gene Sharp is Senior Scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1965 he held research appointments in Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs for nearly thirty years. He is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Dr. Sharp, who has been called "the Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare," founded the Albert Einstein Institution in 1983 to promote research, policy studies, and education on the strategic uses of nonviolent struggle in face of dictatorship, war, genocide, and oppression.
He holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in political theory from Oxford University (1968), a Master of Arts in Sociology (1951), and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (1949) from Ohio State University. Manhattan College awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (1983). Rivier College awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanitarian Service (1996).
He lived for ten years in England and Norway. He did advanced studies at Oxford University, and in Norway he held positions at the University of Oslo and the Institute for Social Research
Dr. Sharp is the author of various books on nonviolent struggle, power, political problems, dictatorships, and defense policy. His writings have been published in English in several countries and in twenty-seven other languages. These include Norwegian, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Tamil, Burmese, Karen, Thai, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
His The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973) (Introduction by Thomas C. Schelling) was immediately hailed as a classic and the definitive study of nonviolent struggle.
His Making Europe Unconquerable (1985) focused on the relevance of civilian-based defense for Western Europe. It carried a Foreword by George F. Kennan.
His Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System (1990) examined how organized nonviolent noncooperation and defiance can potentially deter and defeat internal takeovers and invasions. This book was used in 1991 and 1992 by the new independent governments of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in planning their defense against Soviet efforts to regain control.
A collection of political analyses, Social Power and Political Freedom (1980), included an Introduction by Senator Mark O. Hatfield.
Gandhi as a Political Strategist, with Essays on Ethics and Politics (1979) carried an Introduction by Coretta Scott King, and the Indian edition (1999) contained additionally a Foreword by Frederico Mayor, then Director-General of UNESCO.
His first book, Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power (1960) included a Foreword by Albert Einstein.
Additionally, he is co-editor of Resistance, Politics, and the American Struggle for Independence, 1765-1775 (1986) and of Nonviolent Action: A Research Guide (1997), as well as a contributor to several encyclopedias.
A new book, The Power and Practice of Nonviolent Struggle, is in preparation in English. The earlier edition in Tibetan is being published with a Foreword by the Dalai Lama.
Dr. Sharp’s recent shorter writings include From Dictatorship to Democracy (English, Burmese, Spanish, Karen, and Indonesian). The Burmese editions were repeatedly denounced by the Burmese military dictators, and the Indonesian edition carried a Foreword by Abdurrahman Wahid, now President of Indonesia. The Spanish translation circulates in Cuba.
Dr. Sharp has in recent years made major efforts to prepare simplified presentations on the nature of nonviolent struggle and its applications against dictatorships. He has conducted workshops and consulted on strategic nonviolent struggle in several crisis situations.
He maintains that the major unsolved political problems of our time — dictatorship, genocide, war, social oppression, and popular powerlessness — require us to rethink politics in order to develop fresh strategies and programs for their resolution. He is convinced that pragmatic, strategically planned, nonviolent struggle can be made highly effective for application in conflicts to lift oppression and as a substitute for violence.
