Political Action and Civic Responsibility Theme Analysis

Often, governments are not as resilient as people hope, and citizens themselves are all that holds democracy back from the forces of tyranny. In order to save democracy, citizens must know when and how tyrants are trying to overthrow it, and then act to stop this process. In other words, citizens have a responsibility to understand and critically analyze their governments’ actions, work actively to strengthen democracy when it is threatened, and never give in to authoritarians’ attempts to usurp power. While Snyder admits that these forms of civic action are harder than they sound, they are also far more important and impactful than people—especially Americans—might expect.

First, citizens must understand how authoritarianism works in order to effectively resist it. Snyder emphasizes that responsible citizens must think independently. This requires looking beyond the news media, which examines a limited time period with a meager set of concepts, and instead reading books in order to develop a “mental armory” of concepts that can be used to analyze the world. Of course, On Tyranny is designed precisely to give people such concepts and help them determine when their nations are headed toward authoritarianism. Snyder also asks citizens to build solidarity internationally by forming friendships and learning about political struggles in other countries. Because different countries often face similar challenges at different times, citizens—particularly those who live in inward-looking countries like the United States—can learn about both authoritarian governments’ actions and citizens’ strategies for resistance from international contexts. Snyder argues that citizens must specifically understand and recognize certain stages in a nation’s progression toward tyranny. Namely, citizens must be vigilant when they see symbols of loyalty and hate going up around them, exceptions and emergencies cited as justifications for giving the government new powers, and the classic rhetorical techniques of fascism identified by Victor Klemperer (like blatant lying and “magical thinking,” or contradictory logic). If they identify these warning signs early on, Snyder argues, citizens can resist the spell of authoritarianism and preemptively plan resistance and protest movements.

Once they have the basic understanding of tyranny and democracy that is necessary for them to effectively and strategically resist an oppressive government, Snyder argues that citizens must next dedicate themselves to strengthening the precise institutions and principles that authoritarians seek to demolish. Snyder repeatedly emphasizes that people must actively defend institutions, whether governmental bodies, professional organizations, or simply casual clubs and associations. All of these institutions allow people to work together to resist the encroachment of tyranny, but “institutions do not protect themselves”—they are made of people, and if nobody actively defends them and their principles, governments that promise to destroy them will do precisely that. In addition to supporting formal organizations, citizens should embrace inclusion and solidarity with others in their daily lives. Concretely, this means reaching out to others, especially since tyranny often subdues the citizenry by making neighbors suspicious and afraid of one another. It can also mean consciously displaying symbols of inclusion, which reject the binaries between insider and outsider, or loyal citizen and “enemy of the state,” that authoritarian governments use to divide and conquer the population. By sustaining the principle of inclusion, citizens make organizations and protests possible, and they remind one another that there are alternative ways to live and structure society besides the authoritarian government’s. Finally, citizens must understand and protect their rights, including the right to protest and the right to privacy. This applies even if those rights are not immediately being violated, Snyder insists, because otherwise tyrants could take them away before they become truly necessary.

Ultimately, citizens will have to directly resist oppressive policies. When active resistance is not possible, Snyder insists that people must hold out for as long as possible and never give in to the demands of tyranny. Snyder’s first rule, “Do not obey in advance,” neatly encapsulates this principle: even if tyranny seems to have won, the people can still limit its evil effects. If nothing else, they can prevent it from getting worse by simply doing nothing and refusing to comply—for instance, many Europeans helped the Nazis search for Jews because they felt they had no option and their compliance was meaningless, but many others simply refused to participate whatsoever, indirectly saving lives in the process. This shows that there is always something that citizens can do to at least minimize the damage caused by tyranny. Similarly, Snyder calls for people to “be reflective if [they] must be armed” because even members of the authoritarian regime have moral choices to make. Numerous German police officers executed people during the Holocaust simply because they were ordered to do so and too afraid to refuse—even though they could have done so without any repercussions. However, Snyder’s strongest call for dissent and refusal comes in his eighth chapter, in which he implores citizens to “stand out” and break the status quo in order to set an example that others can follow. Therefore, even a seemingly small gesture can have ripple effects. For instance, Teresa Prekerowa saved an entire Jewish family just because she visited them periodically and encouraged them to escape, whereas virtually all other non-Jewish residents of Warsaw idly watched their Jewish friends and acquaintances disappear. While these others let the circumstances alter their moral compass, Prekerowa insisted on maintaining a kind of basic decency and morality that ultimately saved lives.

Snyder concludes by declaring that people must be “prepared to die for freedom.” This represents both the promise of democracy and the obligation it confers on citizens: everybody is responsible for the collective, and nothing will save democracy but the people themselves. Anyone can and should act to protect their nation from tyranny, even if this requires self-sacrifice, and this very sacrifice is a way of reaffirming and spreading the fundamental values of inclusion, equality, and solidarity that must form the foundation of any truly democratic society.