lang: en
Summary
A dilemma action is a tactical action designed so that every response by the target is costly to the target — the campaign wins whichever way the target responds.
Body
A dilemma action is a tactical action designed so that every response by the target is costly to the target — the campaign wins whichever way the target responds.
The dilemma framework comes from Sharp and is taught in CANVAS’s curriculum as the core design discipline for civil-resistance tactics [source: canvas]. A well-designed dilemma action forces the target into a triple bind: repress (and lose legitimacy), comply (and lose power), or do nothing (and lose momentum). Tactics4Change and ICNC’s 21st Century tactics catalogue updated variants — asymmetric digital actions, transient occupations, performative non-compliance [source: tactics4change], [source: civil-resistance-tactics-21c]. Beautiful Trouble presents many worked examples: a flash-mob buyout that embarrasses a chain whether the chain sues or ignores; a guerrilla projection that publicises a hidden fact whether the target confiscates the projector or not [source: beautiful-trouble]. A classic dilemma action presents the target with a request that is easy to grant but politically costly to grant publicly and politically costly to deny publicly.
Examples
Examples
- Cubans general strike to overthrow president, 1933 — Farm workers’ strike [TRUNC] By August 9, 1933, the general strike campaign 1933 · Latin America
- Harvard University community campaigns for divestment from apartheid South Africa, 1977-1989 — The campaign demanded that the university completely divest its investments 1977-1989 · North America
- Mexican citizens massively protest presidential election results, 2006 — Also, the protests grew during the campaign and covered a large geographical 2006 · North America
- Polish workers general strike for economic rights, 1980 — Economic Justice. Classification. Change. Group characterization [TRUNC] 1980 · Europe
Use it for
Designing an action with asymmetric costs in the campaigner’s favour; diagnosing why a planned action is too easy for the target to ignore.
Worked examples
- case-studies/barbie-liberation
- case-studies/otpor-milosevic
- sindicato-inquilinas
- case-studies/sunrise-green-new-deal
Related
- escalation
- pillars-of-support
- methods-of-nonviolent-action
- beautiful-trouble
- canvas
- civil-resistance-tactics-21c
- tactics4change
Open Questions
None yet.
Sources & verification
- canvas — grounding: secondary — RAW (1324 chars)
- tactics4change — grounding: secondary — RAW (1386 chars)
- civil-resistance-tactics-21c — grounding: secondary — RAW (2120 chars)
- beautiful-trouble — grounding: secondary — RAW (2589 chars)
Verified 2026-06-23 by llm-qc.