So all the new ruler has to do is change the directives at the top. If the top bureaucrats are willing to go along with the new regime, that's fine. Otherwise, they can be replaced by people who are willing to obey. Therefore, in order to be able to resist aggression and oppression, workers in bureaucracies need to know how to resist their bosses. If they only know how to acquiesce, they may become accomplices.
Effective disobedience is necessary to defend human rights and values when they are being violated.
This was the original idea behind our study of how to challenge bureaucratic elites. Three answers are change of policy, change of personnel and change in structure. A change of policy means getting a bureaucracy to do things differently than before. Campaigns to change policies are common and are reported every day. That doesn't mean it is easy to succeed.