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Research (category hub)

Summary

The research category covers evidence sources campaigners use to understand context, precedent, civic space, and civil-resistance outcomes: monitors, databases, research institutes, and method libraries [source: civicus].

Body

Research gives a campaign a check against wishful thinking. It can show whether civic space is opening or closing, whether similar tactics have worked elsewhere, what the best quantitative evidence says about participation and outcomes, and which precedents are relevant to the target. CIVICUS provides civic-space ratings and analysis that help campaigners understand where civic freedoms are under threat [source: civicus]. ICNC supplies strategic frames and learning resources for nonviolent campaigns, including research-grounded case material [source: icnc].

For campaign comparison, the NAVCO Data Project is the canonical quantitative source on nonviolent and violent campaign outcomes, while the Global Nonviolent Action Database catalogues historical and contemporary campaigns with fields for actors, methods, targets, outcomes, and sources [source: navco] [source: nv-database]. Those sources serve different questions: NAVCO helps with aggregate claims about civil-resistance patterns; the Nonviolent Action Database helps a team find concrete precedent cases.

Research is not a substitute for organising. Its role is to sharpen the strategy conversation: what is already known, what is uncertain, which assumptions need testing, and what evidence would change the team’s plan.

Use it for

Finding precedent cases; checking claims about nonviolent-campaign success; sourcing civic-space context; informing a power map or campaign diagnosis.

FAQ

What is the research category?

The research category is the group of evidence sources campaigners use to understand context, precedent, civic space, and civil-resistance outcomes: monitors, databases, research institutes, and method libraries [source: civicus]. Research gives a campaign a check against wishful thinking — it can show whether civic space is opening or closing, whether similar tactics have worked elsewhere, what the best quantitative evidence says about participation and outcomes, and which precedents are relevant to the target.

What sources does the research category cover?

The category groups four practitioner source streams. CIVICUS provides civic-space ratings and analysis that help campaigners understand where civic freedoms are under threat [source: civicus]. ICNC supplies strategic frames and learning resources for nonviolent campaigns, including research-grounded case material [source: icnc]. For campaign comparison, the NAVCO Data Project is the canonical quantitative source on nonviolent and violent campaign outcomes, while the Global Nonviolent Action Database catalogues historical and contemporary campaigns [source: navco] [source: nv-database].

How are NAVCO and the Nonviolent Action Database different?

The two sources serve different questions. NAVCO helps with aggregate claims about civil-resistance patterns — its headline finding is that no campaign that failed to mobilise at least ~3.5% of the population in active participation succeeded. The Nonviolent Action Database helps a team find concrete precedent cases [source: navco] [source: nv-database]. A campaign that needs to argue about overall effectiveness uses NAVCO; a campaign that needs prior art for a specific tactic uses the Nonviolent Action Database.

What is the role of research in a campaign?

Research is not a substitute for organising. Its role is to sharpen the strategy conversation: what is already known, what is uncertain, which assumptions need testing, and what evidence would change the team’s plan. The category serves finding precedent cases, checking claims about nonviolent-campaign success, sourcing civic-space context, and informing a power map or campaign diagnosis.

Sources & verification