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The Practice and Study of Civil Resistance

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The Practice and Study of Civil Resistance journal of pR eaceESEARCH Journal of Peace Research 50(3) 277–290 The practice and study of civil resistance ª The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022343313476530 jpr.sagepub.com Kurt Schock Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Rutgers University, Newark Abstract This article provides an overview of the practice and study of civil resistance. First, historical roots of modern civil resistance are discussed, including the emergence in the 19th century of mass-based campaigns of non-cooperation to promote nationalist and labor interests, as well as the significance of Mohandas Gandhi and the widespread use of nonviolent resistance in the 20th century. Second, perspectives of scholars of social movements and revolution are compared with those of scholars who focus more specifically on nonviolent resistance. Despite studying much of the same phenomena, separate literatures have developed that are ripe for cross-fertilization and synthesis. In the third section, a literature review is organized around three key concepts for understanding civil resistance: mobilization, resilience, and leverage. Fourth, consequences of nonviolent resistance relative to violent resistance are discussed. Finally, areas for future research are identified. Keywords civil resistance, nonviolence, revolutions, social movements The practice of civil resistance Spiritual-based nonviolence outside of organized reli- gion, such as Christian anarchism, also exists. A notable Civil resistance, that is, the sustained use of methods of figure in this tradition is the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, nonviolent action1 by civilians engaged in asymmetric who criticized organized religion as well as the state. In conflicts with opponents not averse to using violence The Kingdom of God is Within You (1984 [1894]) he pro- to defend their interests, has occurred throughout history moted nonviolence and advocated passive non-resistance by groups resisting various forms of oppression and (i.e. non-cooperation with and non-participation in injustice. Its roots can be partially traced to diverse tradi- institutions based on violence) as an antidote to war and tions and faiths that promoted nonviolence, including the hypocrisy of religious institutions (Christoyanno- those of many indigenous cultures, and religions such poulos, 2010). as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism (Arapura, 1997). Civil resistance is also partially rooted in individual Traditions in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity have also ethics and civic responsibility. The US writer and trans- emphasized nonviolence (Solomonow, 1981; Paige, cendental philosopher Henry David Thoreau exempli- Satha-Anand & Gilliatt, 1993; Long, 2011). Christian fies individual civil disobedience, that is, the open peace churches such as the Brethren, Mennonites, and violation of unjust laws or policies in a nonviolent man- Quakers, for example, embrace pacifism and view vio- ner on the grounds of conscience. Thoreau refused to lence as incompatible with their understanding of Chris- pay taxes that supported slavery and the US war against tianity. Adherents may refuse to participate in war Mexico, which he viewed as unjust. In Resistance to Civil through conscientious objection or bear witness as an Government (1996 [1849]) he argued that when the gov- expression of resistance to violence and injustice. ernment requires its citizens to participate in injustice, it 1 Nonviolent action refers to non-routine political acts that do not Corresponding author: involve violence or the threat of violence. [email protected] Downloaded from jpr.sagepub.com at FLACSO on July 17, 2015 278 journal of PEACE RESEARCH 50(3) is the duty of conscientious citizens to refuse through campaigns in South Africa against racial discrimination civil disobedience. were followed by struggles for social and economic jus- With religious and individual nonviolence there is an tice and independence after he returned home to India implicit social causality that individual actions will in 1915 until his assassination in 1948. From his experi- promote a better society; if enough individuals adopt ence organizing campaigns he developed an approach to nonviolent beliefs and behaviors, then macro-social conflict named satyagraha, which roughly means firm- change will result. In the words of Thoreau, if enough ness relying on truth. Satyagraha practitioners improve individuals act as a ‘counter-friction’ then the ‘machine’ their own life while struggling against social injustice will be stopped. Nevertheless the primary motivation is through nonviolent action and building a better society individual morality or conscience, and social transforma- through constructive programs. tion is not typically prioritized. By contrast there is an In addition to his practical experience with cam- explicit social causality in deliberate and organized col- paigns,Gandhidrewfromhis knowledge of historical lective campaigns of nonviolent resistance to promote campaigns of collective defiance, religious thought, and social change (Vogele, 2010). Organizers and partici- literature on civil disobedience. He was knowledgeable pants in these campaigns may or may not be motivated about episodes of mass defiance, including peasant by spiritual or religious beliefs. rebellionsinIndiaandtheboycottcampaigninBengal Campaigns of civil resistance have been practiced against its partition by the British in 1905, as well as sporadically throughout history, at least as far back as nationalist struggles outside India. He combined this 449 BCE when Roman plebs organized a general strike, knowledge with insights from Hinduism and especially abandoned the city, and set up camp until the political with the concept of ahimsa (nonviolence), a central elite gave in to their demands for political rights. How- tenetofJainism,andinspiration from his readings of ever only in the 19th century did campaigns of civil Thoreau and Tolstoy, and applied them to political resistance emerge as a consistently consequential polit- action. ical force. Abolitionist and women’s movements, for Significantly, Gandhi moved beyond individual civil example, engaged in nonviolent action. Moreover, disobedience and realized that nonviolent resistance methods of nonviolent action were increasingly used could be carried out in collective campaigns to confront as a means to struggle against injustice and oppression societal injustices, from the local to the national level. He where in the past violent rebellion or war would have also introduced a much greater attention to strategy and seemedtheonlyappropriateorviableresponse.Civil tactics in campaigns of mass defiance (Sharp, 1973: 82). resistance, to an extent, was increasingly used as a func- Moreover, Gandhi clearly moved beyond the pragmatic tional equivalent to violent resistance. Modern mass- use of nonviolent resistance as practiced in nationalist based campaigns of civil resistance were cast in the cru- and labor struggles, made a conscious association cible of nationalist and labor struggles (Carter, 2005; between mass political action and the ideal of nonvio- Randle, 1994; Sharp, 1973). Whereas the abolitionist lence, and emphasized nonviolent discipline. and women’s movements relied largely on protest and From the mid-20th century onward nonviolent resis- persuasion and attempted to convert their opponents, tance was implemented across the globe in diverse strug- nationalist and labor struggles involved mass-based gles.2 Major episodes of civil resistance from the second non-cooperation and nonviolent coercion. Nationalist half of the 20th century onward include the civil rights struggles, such as Hungarian resistance to Austrian rule movement led by Martin Luther King Jr that challenged from 1849 to 1867, Finnish resistance to Russian rule racial segregation and discrimination in the American from 1899 to 1906, and the Egyptian general strike South (1955–68); numerous protest movements in more against British occupation in 1919, were sustained developed countries in the late 1960s, such as the stu- efforts to promote political transformation through col- dent and anti-Vietnam war movements in the USA and lective nonviolent resistance. In labor struggles, such as Australia, and the student and worker insurrection in in Italy in 1904, Spain in 1919, and Britain in 1926, France in 1968; and a wave of pro-democracy general strikes were a potent weapon of working class protest. Mohandas Gandhi, undoubtedly the most significant 2 For an excellent overview of the development of civil resistance over modern figure in the development of nonviolent resis- the course of the 20th century, see Ackerman & DuVall (2000). For a tance, began his explorations of civil resistance after sharp set of case studies of civil resistance from Gandhi onward, see experiencing racial injustice in South Africa. His Roberts & Garton Ash (2009). Downloaded from jpr.sagepub.com at FLACSO on July 17, 2015 Schock 279 movements from the 1980s into the 21st century that the dynamics of Gandhi’s campaigns. To explain how challenged dozens of non-democratic regimes through- nonviolent resistance can be effective against violent out the world. Nonviolent resistance contributed to oppressors, Gregg developed the concept of ‘moral jiu- notable regime transitions in the Philippines in 1986, jitsu’ which states that activists committed to nonvio- Chile in 1988, Poland in 1989, South Africa in 1994, lence have a moral advantage that throws the
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