government, and subvert their troops. Embargo: An economic boycott initiated This policy, alone or in combination with and enforced by a government. A military means, has received governmen- tal or military attention in several Fast: Deliberate abstention from certain European countries. or all food. When applied in a social or Brief political conflict, it may be combined Civilian insurrection: A nonviolent with a moral appeal seeking to change Glossary uprising against a dictatorship, or other attitudes. It may also be intended simply unpopular regime, usually involving to force the opponent to grant certain widespread repudiation of the regime as objectives, in which case it is called a of illegitimate, mass strikes, massive hunger strike. demonstrations, an economic shut-down, and widespread political noncooperation. Force: Either: (1) An application of Nonviolent Political noncooperation may include power (including threatened or imposed action by government employees and sanctions, which may be violent or non- Struggle mutiny by police and troops. In the final violent). As, "the force generated by the stages, a parallel government often civil disobedience movement." Or: (2) emerges. The body or group applying force as The Albert Einstein Institution has pre- If successful, a civilian insurrection defined in (1), usually used in the plural. pared this brief glossary to encourage the may disintegrate the established regime in As, "the forces at the government's use of more precise terminology in the days or weeks, as opposed to a long-term disposal." field of nonviolent sanctions. struggle of many months or years. Civilian insurrections often end with the General strike: A work stoppage by a Bloodless coup: A successful coup departure of the deposed rulers from the majority of workers in the more impor- d'etat in which there is no killing. Not to country. tant industries of an area or country, be confused with nonviolent struggle, The ousters of Ferdinand Marcos in intended to produce an economic stand- although such a coup sometimes follows 1986 and the Shah of Iran in 1979 are still to achieve political or economic nonviolent protest and resistance against examples. objectives. Certain vital services, as the government. Also called "nonviolent insurrection." health, food, and water, may be ex- empted. Such strikes may be symbolic, Boycott: Social, economic, or political Economic boycott: The withdrawal or lasting only an hour, to communicate an noncooperation. withholding of economic cooperation in opinion, or may be intended to produce the form of buying, selling, or handling economic paralysis in order to force Civic strike: A collective suspension of of goods or services, often accompanied concessions from the opponent. normal activities — economic, social, and by efforts to induce others to do likewise. political — by an entire society to It may be practiced on local, regional, Hunger strike: See "fast." achieve a common political objective. national, or international levels. Mutiny: Refusal by police or troops to Civil disobedience: Deliberate, open, Economic noncooperation: The use of obey orders. It can in extreme cases and peaceful violation of particular laws, economic boycotts or strikes, or both, entail individual or group desertion. It is decrees, regulations, military or police against an opponent. a method of nonviolent action unless the orders, or other governmental directives. mutineers resort to violence. The command may be disobeyed because Economic sanctions: Usually, the it is seen as itself illegitimate or immoral, imposition of international economic Noncooperation: Acts that deliberately or because it is a symbol of other policies boycotts and embargoes. The term can restrict, withhold, or discontinue social, which are opposed. Civil disobedience also be used in domestic conflicts to refer economic, or political cooperation with may be practiced by individuals, groups, to labor strikes and economic boycotts, an institution, policy, or government. A or masses of people. shutdowns, and intervention. general class of methods of nonviolent action. Civilian-based defense: A national Economic shutdown: A suspension of defense policy to deter and defeat aggres- the economic activities of a city, area, or Nonviolence: Either, (1) The behavior of sion, both internal (i.e., coups d'etat) and country on a sufficient scale to produce people who in a conflict refrain from external (i.e., invasions) by preparing the economic paralysis. It combines a violent acts. Or, (2) Any of several population and institutions for massive general strike by workers with a closing belief systems that reject violence on nonviolent resistance and defiance. The of businesses by their owners and principle, not just as impractical. broad strategy is to deny the attackers' managers. Otherwise, the term is best not used, objectives, block establishment of their since it often contributes to ambiguity 4 Nonviolent Sanctions and confusion. To describe specific measures and countermeasures. See also "nonviolent sanctions." actions or movements, the recommended terms are: "nonviolent action." "nonvio- Pacifism: Several types of belief Satyagraha: M.K. Gandhi's version of lent resistance." or "nonviolent struggle." systems of principled rejection of nonviolent action, and also his fuller violence. Pacifism is distinct from the belief system enjoining nonviolent Nonviolent action: A technique of technique of nonviolent action, which is personal behavior and social responsibil- action in conflicts in which participants usually applied as a practical way to act ity. Pronounced sat-va-graha. conduct the struggle by doing — or by people who are not pacifists. Pacifist refusing to do — certain acts without belief systems, at a minimum, reject Strike: A group's deliberate restriction using physical violence. It is an alterna- participation in all international or civil or suspension of work, usually temporary, tive to both passive submission and wars, or violent revolutions. Pacifists to put pressure on employers or some- violence. The technique includes many may support nonviolent struggle, or may times the government. Strikes take many specific methods, which are grouped into oppose it on ethical grounds as too forms and range widely in extent and three main classes: nonviolent protest conflictual. duration. and persuasion, noncooperation. and The term "pacifism" or "pacifist" See also "economic noncooperation." nonviolent intervention. should therefore not be used in relation to The technique's variables include the nonviolent struggles unless there is clear Transarmament: The process of incre- motives for using it, the objectives, the evidence that pacifists are playing mentally building up a nation's civilian- intended way success is to be accom- significant roles in the conflict. based defense capacity and gradually plished (mechanism), and the relation phasing out its military defense capacity. between nonviolent action and other Passive resistance: A nineteenth century "Transarmament" is contrasted to "disar- forms of action. term once used to describe nonviolent mament" which involves a simple struggle. The term is now in disfavor reduction or abandonment of military Nonviolent discipline: Orderly adher- and rejected because "passive" is plainly capacity without providing a substitute ence to the planned strategy and tactics of inaccurate to describe recent cases of means for national defense. an action and to nonviolent behavior even nonviolent noncooperation and defiance. See also "civilian-based defense." in face of repression. This is a major factor contributing to the success of a People power: The power capacity of a Violence: The infliction on people of nonviolent struggle movement. mobilized population and its institutions physical injury or death, or the threat to using nonviolent forms of struggle. The do so. All behavior cannot be neatly Nonviolent resistance: Nonviolent term was especially used during the 1986 classified as either "violence" or "nonvi- struggle, conducted largely by noncoop- Philippine nonviolent insurrection. olence," and several categories fall eration, in reaction to a disapproved act, between these two extremes, including policy, or government. The broader Political boycott: See "political nonco- "destruction of property." terms "nonviolent action" and "nonvio- operation." In reporting a demonstration or resis- lent struggle" are therefore preferred to tance movement which is primarily or refer to the overall nonviolent technique Political noncooperation: The withhold- exclusively nonviolent, care is required to of action and to action in which the ing of usual obedience to, or participation distinguish it, for example, from the acts nonviolent group also takes the initiative in, the political system. The aim may be of violence by small numbers of persons or intervenes, as in a sit-in. to correct a specific grievance or to (who may be undisciplined or deliber- disintegrate a government. Political ately disruptive for political reasons or as Nonviolent sanctions: The methods of noncooperation can take a great variety of agents provocateurs). Similarly, a dem- the technique of nonviolent action. The forms, including withholding of alle- onstration should not be described as term is used especially when one wishes giance, civil disobedience of "illegiti- "violent" when it' is violently attacked by to make clear that these methods are not mate" laws, and governmental refusal of police or troops but nevertheless