"Sharp was motivated by a desire to fight tyranny, which he associated with government “centralization” of all kinds. With the USSR and the New Deal in the background, Sharp argued that nonviolent methods were the most effective way to undermine and collapse regimes marked by dangerous economic “regulation,” “state ownership,” and other “controls” over the economy.

Sharp would not simply theorize from the sidelines—he personally strove to promote his “politics of nonviolent action” globally, and left an indelible mark on geopolitics. In 1983, with the rise of Reagan’s foreign policy of communist “rollback,” Sharp founded the Albert Einstein Institution (AEI), whose mission was to promote Sharp’s theories worldwide. Sharp co-led AEI with Peter Ackerman, a passionate neoliberal who would champion the privatization of social security, serve as a Cato Institute board member, and, parallel to his work at AEI, work as right hand man to “junk bond king” Michael Milken at the notorious investment house Drexel Burham Lambert".

http://nonsite.org/change-agent-gene-sharps-neoliberal-nonviolence-part-two/