The Power and Value of Strategic Nonviolent Action

Recent decades have underscored the power of strategic nonviolent action, even in the most challenging of circumstances. The majority of transitions to democracy have been due to civil society groups engaged in nonviolent resistance, data from political scientists has demonstrated it being far more effective than armed struggle, coups have been reversed, and foreign occupations have been weakened, thereby challenging the rationale for armed liberation struggles. Similarly, problems with “humanitarian intervention” have raised questions regarding the need for “the responsibility to protect” through military means. The traditional rationales for militarism are therefore becoming harder and harder to defend. This provides an opening for those of us in the field to disseminate information about the history and dynamics of unarmed civil resistance. Regardless of whether one embraces pacifism as a personal principle, it is critical to understand and teach about nonviolent alternatives.