Noncooperation
Definition
The middle tier of Gene Sharp’s taxonomy (methods 55–157) — withholding consent, participation, or resources from a target’s systems, in three sub-forms: social (refusing customary cooperation), economic (boycotts, strikes, embargoes), and political (refusing to recognise authority, civil disobedience of laws and orders).
It is where most campaigns underestimate their leverage: the assumption that the target’s authority is durable is the assumption that nobody will withhold the cooperation that holds it up. The practitioner question is which form of noncooperation, by which constituency, would impose the largest cost on the target at the lowest cost to the participants.
The historical record (Chenoweth, Sharp, Ackerman & Duvall) treats noncooperation as the most consistently effective method class in nonviolent action — the tier where the campaign can most precisely target its cost on the target while keeping its own base intact.
Full page: [[noncooperation]]. [source: noncooperation] [source: commons-198-methods]
FAQ
What is noncooperation?
Noncooperation is the middle tier of Gene Sharp’s taxonomy (methods 55–157) — withholding consent, participation, or resources from a target’s systems, in three sub-forms: social (refusing customary cooperation), economic (boycotts, strikes, embargoes), and political (refusing to recognise authority, civil disobedience of laws and orders) [source: commons-198-methods]. It is where most campaigns underestimate their leverage.
Where do most campaigns underestimate their leverage?
The assumption that the target’s authority is durable is the assumption that nobody will withhold the cooperation that holds it up [source: commons-198-methods]. The practitioner question is which form of noncooperation, by which constituency, would impose the largest cost on the target at the lowest cost to the participants.
How does the historical record treat noncooperation?
The historical record (Chenoweth, Sharp, Ackerman & Duvall) treats noncooperation as the most consistently effective method class in nonviolent action — the tier where the campaign can most precisely target its cost on the target while keeping its own base intact [source: commons-198-methods]. This is the empirical basis for Sharp’s argument that noncooperation and intervention methods are generally more powerful than protest alone, but carry higher risk.