Civil Resistance

Comparative Perspectives on Nonviolent Struggle

2015

Kurt Schock, Editor

A much-needed cross-disciplinary survey of the most recent scholarship on nonviolent resistance

This useful collection pushes the boundaries of the study of civil resistance and generates social scientific knowledge that will be helpful for all scholars and activists concerned with democracy, human rights, and social justice.

A major contribution to our understanding of nonviolent social change.

Mobilization

In the past quarter century the world has witnessed dramatic social and political transformations, due in part to an upsurge in civil resistance. There have been significant uprisings around the globe, including the toppling of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the Color Revolutions, the Arab Spring, protests against war and economic inequality, countless struggles against corruption, and demands for more equitable distribution of land. These actions have attracted substantial scholarly attention, reflected in the growth of literature on social movements and revolution as well as literature on nonviolent resistance. Until now, however, the two bodies of literature have largely developed in parallel—with relatively little acknowledgment of the existence of the other.

In this useful collection, an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars takes stock of the current state of the theoretical and empirical literature on civil resistance. Contributors analyze key processes of nonviolent struggle and identify both frictions and points of synthesis between the narrower literature on civil resistance and the broader literature on social movements and revolution. By doing so, Civil Resistance: Comparative Perspectives on Nonviolent Struggle pushes the boundaries of the study of civil resistance and generates social scientific knowledge that will be helpful for all scholars and activists concerned with democracy, human rights, and social justice.

Contributors: Sean Chabot, Eastern Washington U; Véronique Dudouet, Berghof Foundation, Germany; Dustin Ells Howes, Louisiana State U; Brian Martin, U of Wollongong, Australia; Sharon Erickson Nepstad, U of New Mexico; Olena Nikolayenko, Fordham U; Julie M. Norman, Queen’s U, Belfast; Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Thammasat U, Thailand; Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, Thammasat U, Thailand; Stellan Vinthagen, U West and U of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Kurt Schock is associate professor of sociology and global affairs at Rutgers University.

Contributors: Sean Chabot, Eastern Washington U; Véronique Dudouet, Berghof Foundation, Germany; Dustin Ells Howes, Louisiana State U; Brian Martin, U of Wollongong, Australia; Sharon Erickson Nepstad, U of New Mexico; Olena Nikolayenko, Fordham U; Julie M. Norman, Queen’s U, Belfast; Chaiwat Satha-Anand, Thammasat U, Thailand; Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, Thammasat U, Thailand; Stellan Vinthagen, U West and U of Gothenburg, Sweden.

A major contribution to our understanding of nonviolent social change.

Mobilization

Kurt Schock’s edited volume provides an excellent overview of some of the latest research findings and theoretical developments of the rapidly growing subfield of strategic nonviolent action. Civil Resistance reminds us why the study of civil resistance has become mainstream in political science and related fields.

Perspectives on Politics

Contents

Introduction. Civil Resistance in Comparative Perspective
Kurt Schock
Part I. Dynamics of Civil Resistance
1. “We Do Not Work for Peace”: Reframing Nonviolence in Post-Oslo Palestine
Julie M. Norman
2. Nonviolent Action as the Interplay between Political Context and “Insider’s Knowledge”: Otpor in Serbia
Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
3. Youth Mobilization before and during the Orange Revolution: Learning from Losses
Olena Nikolayenko
4. How Regimes Counter Civil Resistance Movements: The Cases of Panama and Kenya
Sharon Erickson Nepstad
5. From Political Jiu-jitsu to the Backfire Dynamic: How Repression Can Promote Mobilization
Brian Martin
6. Sources, Functions, and Dilemmas of External Assistance to Civil Resistance Movements
Véronique Dudouet
Part II. Frontiers of Civil Resistance
7. Defending Freedom with Civil Resistance in the Early Roman Republic
Dustin Ells Howes
8. Making Sense of Civil Resistance: From Theories and Techniques to Social Movement Phronesis
Sean Chabot
9. Four Dimensions of Nonviolent Action: A Sociological Perspective
Stellan Vinthagen
10. Overcoming Illusory Division: Between Nonviolence as a Pragmatic Strategy and a Principled Way of Life
Chaiwat Satha-Anand
11. Civil Resistance in the Twenty-First Century
Kurt Schock
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index