This is awesome, thanks.

I’ve had many thrilling experiences helping nonviolent shakers and shapers push for positive social change. In this process of turning my personal experiences into strategies and tactics I can teach others, I have come to realize that successful nonviolent movements tend to share a common ingredient: they use dilemma actions that force those in power into a lose-lose situation. In other words, if you can trap those in power in an irresolvable dilemma, the action is more likely to accomplish its goals. Those goals might include recruiting more supporters, spreading the movement’s vision, attracting attention to the cause, pressuring unjust leaders to cede power, or advancing democracy. I realized that if I could explain how, why, and to what extent dilemma actions succeed in advancing democracy, I could help activist groups become far more effective—regardless of whether they were planning their next move in a café in Cairo or in a home office in New York City.