by Marisa De La Villa Before being known as the architect of modern nonviolent resistance, Gene Sharp spent decades working in relative obscurity, developing a theory of power that challenged the very foundation of how governments are able to maintain control. 1 Unlike earlier thinkers who framed nonviolence as a moral or religious principle, Sharp approached it as a strategy– one that could be studied, refined, and applied across different political contexts. 2 Working through historical case studies and political analysis, he argued that power is not inherently possessed by rulers, rather, it depends on the obedience and cooperation of ordinary people. 3 This idea became the foundation for his most influential work: a systematic breakdown of nonviolent action into 198 different methods. These ranged from protests and symbolic acts to economic boycotts and institutional noncooperation. 4 Like a tactical manual, the list transformed resistance into something concrete and repeatable ...