Civil Resistance
Definition
Civil resistance is the strategic use of mass nonviolent action — strikes, boycotts, occupations, mass protest, noncooperation, civil disobedience — to challenge a power-holder. It is distinguished from one-off protest by its sustained, organised, often-disruptive character, its discipline under repression, and its measurable success rate, which has drawn serious academic attention.
The empirical literature (Sharp, Ackerman & Duvall, Chenoweth) treats civil resistance as a distinct strategic repertoire. It favours broad-based participation (the three-and-a-half-percent-rule’s lower bound), a flexible tactical mix, loyalty-shifting defections from the regime’s pillars of support, and the discipline to keep the campaign nonviolent even when the regime is not. Civil resistance is not the same as pacifism — it is a strategic choice.
Why it matters: Chenoweth’s finding that civil-resistance campaigns have historically succeeded roughly twice as often as violent insurgencies is the field’s central empirical claim — and the reason the model is studied seriously outside the activist left, including in defence and policy establishments. Adjacent terms: contentious-politics, methods-of-nonviolent-action, civil-disobedience.
FAQ
What is civil resistance?
Civil resistance is the strategic use of mass nonviolent action — strikes, boycotts, occupations, mass protest, noncooperation, and civil disobedience — to challenge a power-holder. It is distinguished from one-off protest by its sustained, organised, often-disruptive character, its discipline under repression, and its measurable success rate, which together have drawn serious academic attention to the field.
What does the empirical literature say about civil resistance?
The empirical literature (Sharp, Ackerman and Duvall, Chenoweth) treats civil resistance as a distinct strategic repertoire. It favours broad-based participation (the three-and-a-half-percent-rule’s lower bound), a flexible tactical mix, loyalty-shifting defections from the regime’s pillars of support, and the discipline to keep the campaign nonviolent even when the regime is not. Civil resistance is not pacifism; it is a strategic choice.
Why does civil resistance matter strategically?
Civil resistance matters because of its measurable success rate: Chenoweth’s finding that civil-resistance campaigns have historically succeeded roughly twice as often as violent insurgencies is the field’s central empirical claim. That finding is the reason the model is studied seriously outside the activist left, including in defence and policy establishments, not just in movement literature.
What terms are adjacent to civil resistance?
Adjacent terms to civil resistance include contentious-politics, methods-of-nonviolent-action, and civil-disobedience. Contentious politics places civil resistance inside the wider field of social movements and protest; methods of nonviolent action catalogue the tactical repertoire from strikes to boycotts; civil disobedience is one named tactic inside that repertoire that civil resistance usually draws on. Together they form the wider reference cluster.
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