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The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror | 
 enlarge | Authors: Natan Sharansky, Ron Dermer, Anatoly Shcharansky
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  122 reviews
Sales Rank: 183352
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 303
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 1586482610
Dewey Decimal Number: 321.8
EAN: 9781586482619
ASIN: 1586482610
Publication Date: September 30, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Natan Sharansky has lived an unusual life, spending nine years as a Soviet political prisoner and nine years as an Israeli politician. He brings the unique perspective of his experiences in order to make the case for democracy with his longtime friend and adviser Ron Dermer. In this brilliantly analytical yet personal book, nondemocratic societies are put under a microscope to reveal the mechanics of tyranny that sustain them. In exposing the inner workings of a "fear society," the authors explain why democracy is not beyond any nation's reach, why it is essential for our security and why there is much that can be done to promote it around the world. Freedom, the authors claim, is rooted in the right to dissent, to walk into the town square and declare one's views without fear of punishment or reprisal. The authors persuasively argue that societies that do not protect that right can never be reliable partners for peace and that the democracy that hates us is much safer than the dictatorship that loves us. The price for stability inside nondemocratic regimes, the authors explain, is terror outside of them. Indeed, the security of the free world depends on using all possible leverage-moral, political, and financial-to support democracy. This book is about much more than theory. After explaining why the expansion of democracy is so critical to our future, the authors take us on a fascinating journey to see firsthand how an evil empire was destroyed and how the principles that led to that destruction were abandoned in the search for peace in the Middle East. But the criticism contained in this book does not dampen its profound optimism. When there is every reason to doubt that freedom will prevail in the Middle East, this book declares unequivocally that the skeptics are wrong. The argument advanced here makes clear why lasting tyranny can be consigned to history's dustbin if the free world stays true to its ideals. The question is not whether we have the power to change the world but whether we have the will. Summoning that will demands that we move beyond Right and Left and start thinking about right and wrong.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 117 more reviews...
 In Praise of Freedom August 3, 2008
Reading this book will bring a song to your heart. I'm not entirely convinced by Sharansky's argument that democracy is the royal road to peace and freedom - I'm still letting the book sink in (it stays with you - which is why I think that its a good, no great, book!) - but I can hardly disagree with the example of his own life and experience. Whether or not he is right I found him inspiring. I think others might too and thus my recommendation.
Much credit for the prose belongs to his co-author Rod Dermer. I have heard Sharansky speak and while he is both eloquent and inspiring English is not his first language. Mr. Dermer deserves our thanks in bringing out the essence of the man.
Anyway, skim through a few more reviews and then say yes to getting a copy of this book. If you belong to a book club then add it to your discussion list. Hand it to your children when they have to write an essay on civics or the fall of the Soviet Union. You will understand the value of freedom and democracy that much better when you see it through the eyes of someone who kept his principles and had these things denied.
 Misguided July 8, 2008
Sharansky is a saint. But unfortunately, he is dead wrong about the power of Democracy. That is, Democracy by itself is not sufficient to free a people. Take for example the Palestinians. They had a shot at Democracy and voted in HAMAS! So also in Iraq. The US spent Trillions and thousands of casualties to create an Iraqui Democracy and the result is that they voted in Sharia - or at least a Sharia based constitution.
Democracy in these situations - where **fish for brains Muslims** are concerned - is just a legitimization of their bizarre tyranny.
BUSH was likewise deceived. He felt that if the Iraquis were FREE then they would get SMART. Not so. Free Iraquis jump into Islam's prison like lemmings.
DEMOCRACY IS WASTED ON MUSLIMS. And Sharansky, idealist that he is, presumptive of Western values as he is... misses this fact: Democracy is just mob rule when the people involved are dick-heads.
For all other peoples, Sharansky is right on.
An excellent case for the freedom agenda February 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Without a doubt, this work by Natan Sharansky has shaped my thinking more than any other speech, book or column on why the spread of democracy is critical to peace. Too often, as Westerners, we're told that some nations and societies don't want democracy; that it is a Western value, not a Middle Eastern value. Hogwosh. People want to be free, and free to elect leaders who have the people's best interests in mind. Sharansky makes that case better than anyone, as he himself was a political prisoner under Russia. Moreover, it sheds lights on why George W. Bush thinks his "freedom agenda" so important. At the end of the day, it's the right thing to do.
An eloquently written book on the need for democracy January 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Natan Sharansky is a notable democratic hero a former major Soviet dissident, so I was interested to reading what he saids about democracy in Iraq. What he does is divide the world up into two societies democratic and non-democratic ones. These non-democratic societies he calls fear societies because the people in them live in fear.
I think he then makes a good argument that democracy is for everyone. He quotes the example in Germany and Japan after WW2 which then many believed were societies unsuited for democracy. He then shows how wrong these critics were. He then quotes his own experience in the USSR where many critics again said that democracy could not work, the government was firmly in place and so we should work with the communist. He then states how wrong they were there too.
Sharansky wrote his book in 2004 so an advantage I have in accessing his book is that I am in 2008. Whether democracy can establish itself in Iraq is not clear at this stage. Clearly the price for making it happen is higher then people imagined in 2004 as several differences exist in Iraq to Sharansky's experience with the USSR. The first is that in the fall of the USSR, the state remained in control always. Any terrorist group found the police in the former USSR both efficient and often brutal. Another difference is the USSR was formally a collection of republics, once it became free the land immediately split up. Most of the major groups simply went there own way. In Iraq we are trying to keep them together. Lastly there was in the former USSR democratic alternatives for the people to support which almost everyone there supported. I would argue that Sharansky's experiences in the former USSR are of limited use in Iraq.
He then moves on and quotes the democratic peace theory which is a well established although disputed theory that states democracies do not go to war with one another. So he claims that it is for peace that we encourage the spread of democracies. I am not sure as even if this theory is correct then a democratic Iraq would be peaceful to the Western democracies but not necessarily in its region where there are no democracies.
Finally he launches an attack on the 1990s Israeli drive for peace with the Palestinians, the biggest failure he feels is that Israel did not link the peace plan to demands for democracy. So Palestinian society formed without democracy as Yasser Arafat to establish himself as a dictator. In his view this doomed the peace.
I am not sure democracies have made peace with non-democratic societies. Israel repeatedly tried to negotiate with democratic Palestinian without Yasser Arafat. However it became clear the only path to peace with the Palestinian was with Yasser Arafat. In retrospect much more should have been done to keep his regime more democratic although I am dubious that it would have resulted in peace. Later HAMAS another terrorist organization did well in the democratic elections there. This is not just a Palestinian problem as a similar problem can be seen in the Arab world where the majority given a choice will vote for parties that are clearly antidemocratic.
Overall I found it an extremely powerful book with some really good points. Even when I dispute them I find myself agreeing with much of them. Perhaps what I should say is it will be a long road to establishing democracies worldwide.
Maybe it's time to build more and higher walls? November 23, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As the years go by and the Bush administration descends into deeper chaos and confusion, this book becomes even more relevant in understanding the "road map" to current conditions in the Arab world.
It's a marvelous advocacy of tough-love in international relations, the product of a man whose life was dominated by tough-love until he fled the Soviet Union. Sharansky is the polar opposite of Jimmy 'turn-the-other-cheek' Carter, and thus a favourite of the current neo-con adventurers. The value of his ideas are shown in the fact he is now out of power in Israel, Hamas is in power in Gaza and Russia is edging toward authoritarian rule again..
Any rational person would assume this upset of outcomes proves Sharansky's basic ideas wrong; yet, such an assumption is as great a folly as his tough-love. Society is always in an almost continuous uproar because countries tend to be run by the Sharanskys or Carters. The ideal combination of the two is rare.
Sharansky is a perennial chronic-kicker libertarian; in 1986, when he was exiled from the Soviet Union, he was told to walk straight forward into West Berlin. So he walked a zig-zag path. Such is his impudent defiance of all authority. People like him, with their stubborn libertarian spirits, keep free societies vibrant and truly democratic.
But there is a difference between libertarian ecstasy and the realities of respecting the range of ideas that exist in every society. In brief, Sharansky argues that if everyone accepts his ideas the result will be Arab/Israeli peace, justice and harmony. Soviet leaders had a similar idea; if everyobe accepted their ideas, everything would be well.
Sadly, life is not so simple. Politics never offers perfect solutions; it is the art of blending imperfect ideas into a few acceptable compromises that produce the least squawking and acceptable results. Democracy won't work without the articulate intelligence of astute thinkers such as Sharansky, whose commitment to freedom is delightfully and profusely obvious in this relatively brief book. Unfortunately, the key to democracy is not a first-rate mind; instead, it is the rather average mind of those who know how to select the best and reject the chaff of the geniuses who are blinded by their own brilliance.
Sharansky is a libertarian genius, which makes his book a delight and highly relevant. It's worth reading now, because the election next year will choose a president who will have a major role in the course of Arab/Israeli relations. The Bush administration took the wrong lesson; perhaps, starting in 2009, a new administration will get it right.
Finally, to understand the difficulty of achieving peace between Arab and Israeli interests, consider one small step: Invite Sharansky and Carter to write an amicable book based on a consensus of their views of a path to peace between Israel and Palestine. If those two can't come to an agreement, then it's time to build more, higher and stronger walls.
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