Beware the one-party state and paramilitary forcesĪ democratic state depends on a multiparty system. So choose an institution - such as a newspaper, a law, or a labor union - and be on its side. However, Snyder reminds us that even though a government may come to power through institutions, that does not mean institutions cannot be destroyed by that very same government. We often believe that our institutions can automatically defend themselves. This paved the way for the ensuing mass killings of Jews carried out by the Nazi government.

Take the anticipatory obedience of Austrians in March 1938 as an example: while local Austrian Nazis seized Jews and forced them to scrub the streets of Austria, other Austrians looked on. One feature setting totalitarian regimes apart from the rest is that they often get obedience in advance to seizing power. It is possible for an individual to stop a tyrant - get ready to learn how! Do not obey in advance and defend institutions Snyder outlines 20 lessons on how to resist tyranny. The government of Russia and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, show worrying tendencies towards totalitarian dictatorships.

Author Timothy Snyder says these examples offer lessons in how to resist tyranny in the future which, now more than ever, are important insights to have.

History has given us many tyrannical governments: Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, to name a few.

Snyder on tyranny summary