The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror [Hardcover]

Natan Sharansky (Author), Ron Dermer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

One of the leading figures in the Soviet human rights movement who became a major political voice in Israel writes about democracy, about which he has earned the right to be passionate.. Natan Sharansky believes that the truest expression of democracy is the ability to walk into the middle of a town square and say whatever you like without fear of arrest or imprisonment. He should know. A dissident in the Soviet Union Sharansky was jailed for nine years for asserting his right to speak freely. During that time he reinforced his moral conviction that democracy above all others was a political virtue to be protected and enhanced, whatever the circumstances. It is a prerequisite for civilized society. Since his release and emigration to Israel in 1986 Sharansky has been a deputy prime minister of the Knesset, leading the party of Russian immigrants, and is now minister for Jerusalem. He has been pilloried by those who say he has been a disappointment as a liberal activist. He says he has been as consistent as he has been stubborn: tyranny, whether in the Soviet Union or the Middle East, must always be made to bow before Democacy. For Sharansky, drawing on a lifetime of experience of democracy and of its absence, politics is no longer a matter of left and right but of right and wrong. Politics must face up to moral responsibility and make hard choices: it must determine what matters most. And for Sharansky, it is only democracy that can safeguard the wellbeing of societies.This is a passionately argued book from a man who carries supreme moral authority to make the case he does here: that all rights and freedoms stem from democracy. With it robustly in place, societies will thrive and nations should be respected. Its absence is a fatal moral flaw that cannot be ignored. His argument is sure to stir controversy on all sides; his opinions will be studied at the highest levels of government policy making; this is arguably the next great issue of our times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on his autobiography—from Soviet refusenik to Israeli cabinet minister – Sharansky distinguishes between "fear" and "free" societies. He spends a significant amount of time taking on conservative "realists" who prize stability in international relations, as well as liberals who he says fail to distinguish between flawed democracies that struggle to implement human rights and authoritarian or totalitarian states that flout human rights as a matter of course. Sharansky criticizes those who argue that democracy is culturally contingent and therefore unsuited for Muslim societies. Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he mentions documented Israeli human rights abuses, but places the bulk of the blame for the conflict on the dictatorial systems prevalent in Arab societies. He also weighs in on the vexing subject of how to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from the "new anti-Semitism." Such criticism must pass the "3D" test of "[no] demonization, double standards, or delegitimation." Sharansky does not grapple deeply with the current situation in Iraq, but his opinions throughout, honed through years in a Soviet prison and in the corridors of power, feel earned.
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Review

"For opinion makers, I would put [this] on your recommended reading list...[Sharansky] is an heroic figure. It's a great book." -- President George W. Bush

"Provocative and important... Sharansky's argument reinforces his belief that only democratic societies can create real peace in the world." -- Philadelphia Inquirer, February 16, 2005

"This book has the merit of straightforwardness... [it's] written with vigor, argued with panache and imbued with the fierce conviction..." -- New York Times, February 12, 2005

"[A] fast-paced read." -- New York Post, December 5, 2004

"[This] book can be a blueprint for measurable, positive change... in the Palestinian Authority [and] Arab world as a whole." -- National Review, December 27, 2004

"the perfect gift for friends or family members..." -- New York Sun November 9, 2004

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1ST edition (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586482610
• ISBN-13: 978-1586482619
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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57 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Power of Freedom, December 23, 2004

By 

Ronald W. Satz (Trevose, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (Hardcover)

Natan Sharansky, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, was the English translator for, and English instructor of, the great Russian physicist, Andre Sakharov. The book is dedicated to Sakharov, "A man who proved that with moral clarity and courage, we can change the world" and who said "Regimes that do not respect the rights of their own people will not respect the rights of their neighbors."

Sharansky spent 9 years in Soviet prison and used this time to reflect on the mechanics of tyranny and how such tyranny might be overthrown. He never gave up hope that the Soviet Union would be dismantled. To keep his mind active he played chess in his head-and never lost a match.

At the time of Stalin there were no known dissidents in the Soviet Union simply because the price for dissent was death. With Stalin's death and with successive, slightly more "liberal" regimes, the price for dissent became long prison terms. This allowed several hundred dissidents to emerge, who were willing to risk prison to speak out. Many of these were Soviet Jews seeking to immigrate to the U.S. or Israel; Sharansky was one of these; recall that at that time, no Soviet citizens were allowed to emigrate from the country.

Sharansky divides the populace of a dictatorship into three classes: true believers of the regime, double-thinkers, and dissidents. True believers are usually part of the regime and have a stake in its survival; double-thinkers, which make up the great bulk of the populace, don't agree with the administration but are afraid to speak up; dissidents represent the minority willing to risk job and family to disagree with the regime. The passive support given by double-thinkers to their masters often misleads outsiders into concluding that all-is-well in such countries; just look at the reports made by American correspondents in the USSR from the period of 30's to the 70's. Likewise, Sharansky says, both Iran and Saudi Arabia are steeped in double-think.

It was President Ronald Reagan who had the moral courage to call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and to seek its end. This, together with the Jackson Amendment (which linked most favored nation trade benefits with the U.S. to the right of emigration) and the Helsinki accords, is what ultimately caused the Soviet Union to collapse. Sharansky was then able to leave prison and immigrate to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife. He then rose through the ranks of government to various ministerial positions.

In the book Sharansky extrapolates from his experiences to the world situation of today. He claims there are two basic types of societies: free and fear. Free societies are democratic and allow dissent; fear societies are dictatorial and do not allow dissent. Examples of free societies are those in the West (like the U.S., England, Israel, Australia, etc.). Examples of fear societies are Communist China, North Korea, Iran, and the 22 Arab countries; Arafat's Palestinian Authority was and still is a fear society. Previously Germany and Japan were fear societies, but after World War II they were changed into free societies. Also, Eastern Europe used to be composed of fear societies, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain, they have joined the free camp.

Sharansky is optimistic from his past experience and from history that the remaining fear societies can be freed; tyranny cannot last. He thus disagrees both with the pessimistic conservative "realists" who stress "stability" above all else and with liberals like Jimmy Carter who are willing to negotiate treaties with dictators regardless of the lack of human rights in their countries. Sharansky claims that democracy is not culturally-contingent (citing the Japanese). The vast majority of people love truth and freedom and "freedom is always a winning hand unless we morally equalize the good with the bad, the lies with the truth, and make treaties and compromises with tyrants." The West should stop doing business with tyrants: they can never be trusted and are only interested in their own survival; they are inherently corrupt and won't keep promises. Israel and the rest of the world should devote its energy to bringing democracy to the Palestinian Arabs, rather than pressuring Israel to make more concessions. Sharansky stresses the power of one's inner freedom (which kept him going while in prison), the power of a free society, and the power of the solidarity of the free world. A coalition of free nations (not the UN) should be formed that would turn the right of dissent as a test for international legitimacy.

Sharansky sees a tie between U.S. security and bringing democracy to the Middle East. Democratic countries don't make war on each other. The U.S. should use all possible leverage-moral, political, and financial-to support democracy around the world. "Once the life of double-think and self-censorship is shed, once the brainwashing stops, once freedom is tasted, no people will ever choose to live in fear again." The conditions for real peace in Palestine include real reforms like dismantling the refugee camps, developing private enterprise, and changing the hate-filled curriculum of Palestinian schools. Of course, dictators will resist all change; to keep their power, they constantly need to mobilize their people against alleged external enemies. But if a coalition of security hawks and human rights activists in the West can be reconstituted, the world's dictators can be defeated.

It is a tribute to Sharansky that President Bush invited him to the White House for a private briefing. The President has read the book and has recommended it to many of his cabinet secretaries and foreign leaders. I'm proud to say that I met Sharansky at a recent meeting of the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia, where he signed my copy of the book. I do strongly urge all individuals concerned with foreign policy to read this book. Of course, one minor English quibble might be with Sharansky's use of the term "democracy" when he really means "democratic republic". That's OK; the meaning is clear, regardless.

49 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing Us Through Soviet Eyes, November 22, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (Hardcover)

Freedom, sharansky and Dermer proclaim, is rooted in the right to dissent, to walk into the town square and declare one's views without fear of punishment or reprisal. This they say is the basic right, and societies that do not protect that right can never be reliable partners for peace, and that the democracy that hates is much safer than the dictatorship that loves us.

While there is every reason to doubt that freedom will prevail in the Middle East, this book declares unequivocally that the skeptics are wrong. They the believe that tyranny can be consigned to history's dustbin if the free world stays true to its ideals.

Sometimes I think it takes someone who has lived under a regime like the Soviet Union to remind us of what we have. It's not the false promises made by both Kerry and Bush during the last election, it's that we could have such an election at all.

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharansky -- The perfect chess player, November 24, 2004

By 

S. Blitz (Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (Hardcover)

Natan Sharansky has shown keen insight in this new book into understanding the realities behind the various Middle East and world conflicts. He is a true believer in freedom. He has seen in the past, how, by giving people a taste of freedom their appetites are whetted for more. He proposes applying these same insights that toppled the USSR to the rest of the world.
George W. Bush is reading this book, Condaleza Rice is reading this book. It is a must read for anyone who wants an understanding into Bush's foreign policy for the next four years.