University of Oxford

-- MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy --

Nonviolent Resistance Movements

Michaelmas Term, 2019-20

Instructor: Dr. John Gledhill (john.gledhill@qeh.ox.ac.uk)

Class Meetings: Wednesdays, 14:00-16:00 (SR2)

Optional Film Showings: Tuesdays, Weeks 2, 4, and 6 @ 17:00, SR2.

Course Overview
This course covers the theory of nonviolent resistance, explanations of social
mobilization, repertoires of nonviolent protest, and transitions between nonviolent resistance
and violence. The aims are to understand the normative foundations of nonviolent resistance
and develop an empirical framework for explaining the causes, dynamics, and outcomes of
such resistance.
The course is divided into four sections, each two weeks long. The opening section
covers theories and approaches to the study of nonviolence. In the first class, we explore
contrasting understandings of social and political power, and consider how those varying
approaches give rise to differing understandings of resistance. In the second class, we look at
two broad ways of studying nonviolent resistance; prescriptively/normatively and empirically.
The next section of the course focuses on processes of social mobilization that
underwrite and sustain nonviolent resistance movements. One class explores the framing of
collective motives to mobilize, and the other looks at the development of political opportunities
that facilitate protests, as well as availability of the kinds of material and human resources that
actors need to realize a nonviolent protest, in practice.
In the third section of the course, we explore the strategies and dynamics of nonviolent
resistance; first at the domestic level, and then at the transnational level.
The course closes by considering the relationship between violent and nonviolent
resistance. We first consider how and why violent insurgents may give up their arms and turn
to nonviolence, and we then look at why nonviolent resistance sometimes fails, and collapses
into violence.
Throughout the course, we consider the above themes across a diverse set of historical
and contemporary cases of nonviolent resistance, including the anti-apartheid struggle, the
‘Coloured Revolutions’ in post-communist countries, the US civil rights movement, and the
Arab Spring revolts.
Course Topics
Week Topic
1 Theories of Power and Resistance

2 Approaches to the Study of Nonviolent Resistance

3 Social Mobilization (I): Motives and Framing

4 Social Mobilization (II): Opportunity Structures and Organizational

Resources

5 Domestic Dynamics: Resistance and Repression

6 Transnational Dynamics

7 From Violence to Nonviolence

8 When Nonviolent Resistance Fails

Class Structure
The course will be run as a reading-intensive seminar.
Each class will open with a short introduction by the lecturer, who will outline the
structure for the day’s class and identify key themes for discussion.
For weeks 2-8, each class will then continue with a presentation by between one and
three members of the class. Each student is required to contribute two presentations throughout
the term.
Co-presenters should work closely together in preparing their presentations, which
should have two aspects to them. First, the presentation should offer a critical assessment of
the readings that are assigned for the class in question. Since there are often five or six readings
assigned, you will not have time to summarize the readings one by one. Rather, you should try
to synthesize the materials, identify key points of debate that emerge across the readings, and
offer your positions on those debates. Second, the presentation should discuss one or more
cases that reflect some of the themes that appear in the conceptual readings. You may choose
to treat cases that appear in the required and/or recommended readings for that week, or you
may choose any other case that you are familiar with, or which interests you (including any
contemporary cases that have not yet been treated in the academic literature). Since only a
limited number of cases are cited in the syllabus, you are invited and encouraged to read off
the syllabus for case material.
The co-presentation should be around 15 minutes for presentations by two students.
You may structure the presentation in any way you wish. The case material may be worked
into your discussion of the week’s themes, or it may be presented separately, following your
conceptual discussion. You will be offered informal feedback on your presentation after class,
if you wish.
Following the presentation, you may be broken into pairs or threes and invited to briefly
engage in small-group discussion on some of the key concepts and themes of the week. A
question sheet will be distributed. After forming your thoughts, we will return for a full group
discussion on some of those core themes.

Course Requirements
You are expected to complete a critical reading of all required materials before class
each week, and to contribute in a lively fashion to class debates. Your active participation in
class discussions is essential for the overall success of the course. While I will not generally
employ the ‘Socratic method,’ students should expect to be called upon if they are not
contributing voluntarily.
Each week, you will be required to formulate one or two discussion questions that arise
out of your reading of the assigned material. These must be posted on CANVAS by 16:00 on
the day before class, at the very latest. I will review these questions and use them as a basis for
shaping our class discussion, where possible. Note that they will be accessible to all who have
rights to the GGD section of CANVAS, and so you can and should view one another’s
contributions.
In order to prepare you for the final exam, you will also be required to submit two
unassessed/formative papers. The first paper should be submitted by the end of Michaelmas
Term, and the second piece must be posted to CANVAS by end of the first day of Hilary Term.
The papers should be between 1,500 and 2,000 words. The ‘Themes for Discussion’ that are
associated with each week will provide you with a basis for identifying your question or topic,
as will past exam papers. You will receive detailed feedback on the papers and an estimated
grade.

Readings
The course is extremely reading-intensive and, as such, you should be prepared to read
between 100 and 150 pages per week (typically, those pages are spread across five to six
different articles or book chapters).
You will see that the assigned materials are divided into two sets of readings: required
materials and recommended texts. As the wording suggests, all students must cover the
required readings prior to the class meeting. The readings are listed in a suggested reading order
(i.e. they are sequenced according to a particular logic, which tracks the sequences of academic
debates). Presenters should also delve into some of the recommended texts and case readings.
Indeed, all students are encouraged to do so, where possible. For the final exam, you are
expected to be familiar with both the required texts and a selection of the recommended pieces.
All assigned journal articles should be available in digital form through the library.
Required book chapters should also be scanned by the library. Some recommended and further
readings will also be made available in digital form but you may, on occasion, have to go to
the library to access hard copies of books (!). If you have trouble accessing any of the readings,
please inform me immediately.
You are not required to buy any books for the course. However, there are a number of
texts that we will be referencing regularly, and you may wish to purchase them for your own
records. Those books are: Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works:
The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011);
Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011); Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections: People Power
Movements in Nondemocracies (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004). We also
draw on many of the case studies that appear in: Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.),
Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009); and Adam
Roberts et al. (eds.), Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring (Oxford: OUP, 2016).
 Please note that some of the assigned and recommended readings are decades old and,
as such, they use language that was common at the time but which has since been recognized
as gendered or racialized. This language should evidently be contextualized and read with a
critical eye.

Films
In Weeks 2, 4, and 6, I will be showing documentary films that are related to the course
material for that week’s class. Details of the films are provided at the end of the syllabus.
Attendance is voluntary, and please note that the nature of the material for the course means
that some may find certain images in the films unsettling.
Films will run at 17:00 on Tuesdays (i.e. the evening before class), and note that the
building is locked from 17:15, so you will not be able to come along after that.

Examination
The course is assessed through a written examination at the end of the academic year.
Week 1: Theories of Power and Resistance

Themes for Discussion

 What is a state, and what structures of power sustain it?

 Are ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ theories of state power more convincing? Are they
complementary or competing explanations?

 How do different understandings of power inform different understandings of resistance?

 What constitutes ‘revolutionary’ social change, and can nonviolent resistance bring
about such change?

Required

Theories of Power

Max Weber, ‘Politics as a Vocation’, in Max Weber, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology /
Edited, with an Introduction by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (London: Routledge, 1991),
77-87 only.

Michael Mann, ‘The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms and Results’,
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie 25, no. 2 (1984): 185–
21.

Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol 1. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher,
1973), Ch.1 (through to page 23).

Theories of (Nonviolent) Resistance

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), Ch.1.

Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol 1. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher,
1973), Ch.1 (remaining pages in chapter).

Brian Martin, ‘Gene Sharp’s Theory of Power’, Journal of Peace Research 20, no.2 (1989):
213-22.

Recommended

Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, Vol. II (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993), Ch.1.

Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European States, AD 990-1992 (London: Blackwell,
1992), Ch.1.
Gianfranco Poggi, The State: Its Nature, Development and Prospects (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1990).

Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi: Selected Political Writings (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.,
1996), 50-63.

Bikhu Parekh, Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Stellan Vinthagen, A Theory of Nonviolent Action (London: Zed Books, 2015), Ch. 1.

Michel Foucault, ‘Two Lectures’ in Steven C. Roach (ed.) Critical Theory and International
Relations: A Reader (London: Routledge, 2008), 317-326 (excerpt from Power/Knowledge).

Adam Roberts, ‘Introduction’ in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil
Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Week 2: Approaches to the Study of Nonviolent Resistance

Themes for Discussion

 What is violence? What is nonviolence?

 What is ‘nonviolent’ or ‘civil’ resistance, and what forms does it take?

 What is ‘principled’ nonviolent action, what is ‘pragmatic’ nonviolent action, and can the
two really be separated?

 What is a normative approach to the study of nonviolent action, and how does it compare
with empirical approaches to the study of nonviolent movements? Can they be separated?

 How do approaches to the study of nonviolent resistance compare and contrast with
studies of violent resistance?

Optional Film

A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (York Zimmerman, 2000).

Required

Concepts: Violence and Nonviolence

Vittorio Bufacchi, ‘Two Concepts of Violence’, Political Studies Review 3, no.2 (2005), 193-
204.

Sharon E. Nepstad, Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies, and Dynamics (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2015), Ch.1.

Overviews of the Field

Kurt Schock, ‘The Practice and Study of Civil Resistance’, Journal of Peace Research 50,
no. 3 (2013): 277–90.

Sharon E. Nepstad, “Nonviolent Resistance Research,” Mobilization: An International

Quarterly 20, no. 4 (2015): 415–20 [only].

Prescriptive/Normative/Strategic vs Empirical Approaches

Peter Ackerman and Berel Rodal, ‘The Strategic Dimensions of Civil Resistance,’ Survival
50, no. 3 (2008): 111–26. [Example of a prescriptive/strategic study]

Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of
Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), Ch.1. [Example of an
empirical study]
Recommended

Jørgen Johansen, ‘Nonviolence: More than the Absence of Violence,’ in Charles Webel and
Johan Galtung (eds.), Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies (London: Routledge, 2007).

April Carter, ‘People Power and Protest: The Literature on Civil Resistance in Historical
Context’ in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), Civil Resistance and Power
Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Véronique Dudouet, “Nonviolent Resistance and Conflict Transformation in Power

Asymmetries.” Berghof Handbook: Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict
Management, 2008. Available online.

Gene Sharp, ‘The Meanings of Non-Violence: A Typology (Revised)’, The Journal of

Conflict Resolution 3, no. 1 (1959): 41–66.

Iain Atack, Nonviolence in Political Theory (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012),
Ch.1.

Stellan Vinthagen, A Theory of Nonviolent Action (London: Zed Books, 2015), Ch.2.

Stephen Zunes, ‘Questions of Strategy’, in Maia Carter Hallward and Julie M. Norman (eds),
Understanding Nonviolence (Cambridge: Polity, 2015).

Timothy Braatz, ‘The Limitations of Strategic Nonviolence’, Peace Review 26, no.1 (2014),
4-11.

Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections : People Power Movements in Nondemocracies

(Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2004), Ch.2.

Doug McAdam and Sidney Tarrow, ‘Nonviolence as Contentious Interaction’, PS: Political
Science and Politics 33, no. 2 (2000): 149–54.

Mauricio Rivera Celestino and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, ‘Fresh Carnations or All Thorn, No
Rose? Nonviolent Campaigns and Transitions in Autocracies’, Journal of Peace Research 50,
no. 3 (2013): 385–40.

Charles Butcher and Isak Svensson, “Manufacturing Dissent: Modernization and the Onset of
Major Nonviolent Resistance Campaigns,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 60, no. 2 (2016):
311–39.
Week 3: Social Mobilization (I): Motives and Framing

Themes for Discussion

 What structural conditions might give rise to the development of collective grievances
that underwrite social mobilization?

 What is strategic ‘framing’, and what role might it play in shaping perceptions of
collective grievance?

 Do explanations of collective grievance that focus on social structures, strategic framing,

or a combination thereof, best explain the origins of collective motives for (nonviolent)
resistance?

 Are the collective motives that underwrite nonviolent resistance inherently different to the
motives that underwrite violent resistance?

 Is the development of collective motives for nonviolent resistance a sufficient condition

for such an outcome?

Required

Grievances, Conflict, and Mobilization

[Note, the first two readings evidently focus on motives for violent collective action, but we
will discuss their relevance for the study of nonviolence]

Ted Gurr, Why Men Rebel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970), Ch.2.

Frances Stewart, “Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension of Development” (QEH

Working Paper 81, 2002). Available online.

Alexander De Juan and Eva Wegner, ‘Social Inequality, State-Centered Grievances, and
Protest: Evidence from South Africa,’ Journal of Conflict Resolution 63, no. 1 (2019): 31–58.

Framing

David Snow and Robert Benford, ‘Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview
and Assessment’, Annual Review of Sociology 26 (2000): 611-39.

Case Study: Tunisia 2010/11

Merlyna Lim, ‘Framing Bouazizi: ‘White Lies’, Hybrid Network, and Collective/Connective
Action in the 2010–11 Tunisian Uprising’, Journalism 14, no. 7 (2013): 921–41.

[Optional Extra Reading]

John Gledhill, Allard Duursma, and Christopher Shay, ‘Glee and Grievance in Nonviolent
Resistance’ (Working Paper, 2019 - available upon request).
Recommended

David Snow, ‘Framing Processes, Ideology, and Discursive Fields,’ in David Snow et al
(eds), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (Malden: Blackwell, 2004).

Robert D. Benford, ‘An Insider’s Critique of the Social Movement Framing Perspective’,
Sociological Inquiry 67, no. 4 (1997): 409–30.

Sami Zemni: ‘The Roots of the Tunisian Revolution’ in Larbi Sadiki (ed.), Routledge
Handbook of the Arab Spring (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015).

Sarah Rennick, ‘Personal Grievance Sharing, Frame Alignment and Hybrid Organizational
Structures: The Role of Social Media in North Africa’s 2011 Uprisings,’ Journal of
Contemporary African Studies 31, no.2 (2013): 156-74.

William Polk, ‘Understanding Syria: From Pre-Civil War to Post-Assad,’ The Atlantic
(December 10, 2013).

Kurt Schock, Civil Resistance Today (Cambridge: Polity, 2015), Ch.3.

Jack Goldstone, “Understanding the Revolutions of 2011: Weakness and Resilience in

Middle Eastern Autocracies,” Foreign Affairs 90, no.3 (2011): 8-16.

Jacquelien Van Stekelenburg, Bert Klandermans, and Stefaan Walgrave, “Individual

Participation in Street Demonstrations,” in David Snow et al. (eds), The Wiley Blackwell
Companion to Social Movements (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2018), 369–91.

Taras Kuzio, “Civil society, Youth and Societal Mobilization in Democratic Revolutions”,
Communist and Post-Communist Studies 39, no.3 (2006): 365 -386.

James M. Jasper, ‘Emotions and Social Movements: Twenty Years of Theory and Research,’
Annual Review of Sociology 37, no. 1 (2011): 285–303.

Michael J. Willis, ‘Revolt for Dignity: Tunisia's Revolution and Civil Resistance’, in Adam
Roberts et al. (eds.), Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2016).

Henry Thomson, “Grievances, Mobilization, and Mass Opposition to Authoritarian Regimes:

A Subnational Analysis of East Germany’s 1953 Abbreviated Revolution,” Comparative
Political Studies 51, no. 12 (2018): 1594–1627.

Erica Simmons, “Grievances Do Matter in Mobilization,” Theory and Society 43, no. 5
(2014): 513–46.
Week 4: Social Mobilization (II): Opportunity Structures and Organizational Resources

Themes for Discussion

 What are ‘opportunity structures’ (in relation to social mobilization), and what
conditions open up such structures?

 What are ‘organizational resources’ (in relation to social mobilization), and what
conditions provide groups with access to such resources?

 Are advocates of nonviolent resistance more or less likely than violent insurgents to
encounter (and/or generate) opportunity structures and resources that will allow for
effective resistance?

Optional Film (tied to last week and this week): Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part
Harmony (Lee Hirsch, 2004)

Required

Overview

Erica Chenoweth and Jay Ulfelder, ‘Can Structural Conditions Explain the Onset of
Nonviolent Uprisings?’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 61, no.2 (2017): 298-324.

Opportunity Structures

Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), Ch.5.

Organizational Resources

J. Craig Jenkins, 'Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements', Annual
Review of Sociology 9 (1983): 527–53. [Especially 527-39]

Charles Butcher and Isak Svensson, “Manufacturing Dissent: Modernization and the Onset of
Major Nonviolent Resistance Campaigns,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 60, no. 2 (2016):
311–39.

Case Studies: The Arab Spring [Read at least one of the following two pieces]

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, ‘Mutiny and Nonviolence in the Arab Spring: Exploring Military
Defections and Loyalty in Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria,’ Journal of Peace Research 50, no. 3
(2013): 337–49.

Nahed Eltantawy and Julie B. Wiest, ‘Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution:
Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory’, International Journal of Communication 5
(2011): 1207-22.
Recommended

Mansur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965).

Pamela Oliver, ‘Rewards and Punishments as Selective Incentives for Collective Action:
Theoretical Investigations’. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 85, no. 6 (1980): 1356-
1375.

Sidney Tarrow, ‘States and Opportunities’ in Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, and Mayer
N. Zald (eds), Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities,
Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1996).

Marco Giugni, “Political Opportunities: From Tilly to Tilly”, Swiss Political Science Review
15, no. 2 (2009): 361–68.

Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-70
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), Chs. 1-3.

John McCarthy, ‘Constraints and Opportunities in Adopting, Adapting, and Inventing’ in

Doug McAdam et al. Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996).

John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald, ‘Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A
Partial Theory,’ American Journal of Sociology, 82, no.6 (1977): 1212-41.

David Meyer, ‘Protest and Political Opportunities’. Annual Review of Sociology 30: 125–45.

Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution (New York: Random House, 1978). Earlier
draft available online.

Karl-Dieter Opp, Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements (London: Routledge,
2009), Chs. 5 & 6.

Eitan Y. Alimi and David S. Meyer, ‘Seasons of Change: Arab Spring and Political
Opportunities,’ Swiss Political Science Review 17, no. 4 (2011): 475–79.

John Gledhill, ‘Disaggregating Opportunities: Opportunity Structures and Organizational

Resources in the Study of Armed Conflict’, Civil Wars 20, no.4 (2018): 500-528.

Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections : People Power Movements in Nondemocracies

(Minneapolis, MN, USA: University of Minnesota Press, 2004), Ch.2 (up to page 48).
Week 5: Resistance and Repression

Themes for Discussion

 What are some of the key forms of nonviolent protest, and how might those actions
challenge existing structures of social and political power?

 Are certain forms of nonviolent protest particularly suited to specific institutional

contexts and/or political goals?

 What factors might facilitate a successful nonviolent protest?

 Can nonviolent resistance be successful in the face of a violent, repressive response from
state authorities? If so, how? If not, why not?

Required

The Forms and Logic of Nonviolent Resistance

Sharon Nepstad, Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies, and Dynamics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2015), Ch.4.

Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2011), Ch.2.

Repression and Response

David Hess and Brian Martin, ‘Repression, Backfire, and the Theory of Transformative
Events’, Mobilization 11, no. 1 (2006): 249-67.

Ralph Summy, ‘Nonviolence and the Case of the Extremely Ruthless Opponent’, Pacifica
Review: Peace, Security, and Global Change 6, no.1 (1994): 1-29.

Case Studies [Choose one, also from the recommended readings if you prefer]

George Lawson, ‘Revolution, Nonviolence, and the Arab Uprisings’, Mobilization: An

International Quarterly 20, no.4 (2015): 453-70.

Elham Fakhro, ‘Revolution and Counter-revolution in Bahrain’ in Adam Roberts et al. (eds.)
Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

Recommended

Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol 1. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publisher,
1973), Ch.3 (and onwards to Ch.8).

Isak Svensson and Mathilda Lindgren, ‘Community and Consent Unarmed Insurrections in
Non-Democracies’, European Journal of International Relations 17, no. 1 (2011): 97–120.
Srdja Popovic et al., CANVAS Core Curriculum: A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle
(Belgrade: Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies, 2007). [Nb. This should be
read as an example of advocacy for strategic nonviolent resistance.]

Julie Norman, ‘Nonviolent Resistance in the Second Intifada,’ in Maia Hallward and Julie
Norman, Nonviolent Resistance in the Second Intifada (New York: Palgrave, 2011)

Stephen Jones, ‘Georgia's 'Rose Revolution' of 2003: A Forceful Peace’ in Adam Roberts and
Timothy Garton Ash (eds.) Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009).

Ervand Abrahamian, ‘Mass Protests in the Iranian Revolution, 1977-79’ in Adam Roberts
and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.) Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2009).

Christian Davenport, ‘State Repression and Political Order’, Annual Review of Political
Science 10, no. 1 (2007): 1–23.

Doug McAdam, ‘The US Civil Rights Movement: Power from Below and Above, 1945-
1970’, in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.) Civil Resistance and Power Politics
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Week 6: Transnational Dynamics

Themes for Discussion

 In what ways do international actors sometimes (try to) influence the development of
nonviolent resistance movements against governments abroad?

 Do strategies and mechanisms of nonviolent resistance easily transfer from one

political/social context to another? What factors inform the likelihood, and success, of
diffusion?

 In what ways do international actors (sometimes) support efforts from governments to

repress nonviolent resistance movements operating within their states?

 From a normative perspective, should foreign governments be actively involved in

democracy (or autocracy) promotion abroad? What are some of the intended and
unintended consequences of such promotion?

Optional Film

Bringing Down a Dictator (WETA-TV, 2001)

Required

Mechanisms of Diffusion

Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘Transnational Advocacy Networks in International and
Regional Politics’, International Social Science Journal, 51 (1999): 89-101.

Valerie Bunce and Sharon Wolchik, ‘Transnational Networks, Diffusion Dynamics, and
Electoral Change in the Postcommunist World’ in Rebecca Givan et al. (eds), The Diffusion
of Social Movements: Actors, Mechanisms, and Political Effects (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2010).

Transnational Aspects of Repression

Oisin Tansey, International Politics of Authoritarian Rule (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2016), Ch.5.

Critical Reflections

Mark R. Beissinger, ‘Promoting Democracy: Is Exporting Revolution a Constructive

Strategy?’, Dissent 53, no. 1 (2006): 18–24.

Amanda Murdie and Tavishi Bhaisin, ‘Aiding and Abetting: Human Rights INGOs and
Domestic Protest’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 55, no. 2 (2011): 163-191.
Recommended

Margaret Keck and Katherine Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in
International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998).

Rebecca Kolins Givan, Kenneth M. Roberts, and Sarah A. Soule (eds.), The Diffusion of
Social Movements: Actors, Mechanisms, and Political Effects (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2010), Introduction.

Kristian S. Gleditsch and Mauricio Rivera, ‘The Diffusion of Nonviolent Campaigns’,

Journal of Conflict Resolution (Online advance publication, 2015).

Sean Chabot, ‘Transnational Diffusion and the African American Reinvention of Gandhian
Repertoire’, Mobilization 5, no 2 (2000): 201–16.

Stephen Jones, ‘Georgia's 'Rose Revolution' of 2003: A Forceful Peace’ in Adam Roberts and
Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009).

Andrew Wilson, ‘Ukraine's 'Orange Revolution' of 2004: The Paradoxes of Negotiation’ in

Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2009).

Julie Harrelson-Stephens and Rhonda L. Callaway, ‘You Say You Want a Revolution: The
Arab Spring, Norm Diffusion, and the Human Rights Regime’, Human Rights Review 15, no.
4 (2014): 413–31.

Donatella della Porta, ‘Eventful Protest, Global Conflicts’. Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal
of Social Theory, 9, no. 2 (2008): 27-56.

Donatella della Porta and Sidney Tarrow, Introduction to Donatella della Porta and Sidney
Tarrow (eds.) Transnational Protest and Global Activism: People, Passions, and Power
(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).
Week 7: From Violence to Nonviolence (and possibly back again…)

Themes for Discussion

 Is the difference between violent and nonviolent resistance merely a matter of strategic
action, or also ideology and other factors?

 What factors might influence the decision of a resistance movement to shift from violent
to nonviolent resistance?

 Can a nonviolent resistance movement (successfully) operate alongside, or in conjunction

with, a violent insurgency?

 Might shifts from violent to nonviolent resistance reflect a broad decline in collective and
political violence? If so, what factors have driven that decline?

 Do gendered social structures play a role in driving violent conflict and, if so, might
shifts in gendered social structures contribute to a generalized shift from violent to
nonviolent resistance, over time?

Required

Transitions from Violent to Nonviolent Resistance

Veronique Dudouet, ‘Dynamics and Factors of Transition from Armed Struggle to

Nonviolent Resistance’, Journal of Peace Research 50, no.3 (2013): 401-13.

Maria Stephan, ‘Fighting for Statehood: The Role of Civilian-based Resistance in the East
Timorese, Palestinian, and Kosovo Albanian Self-determination Movements’, Fletcher
Forum on World Affairs 50, no.2 (2006): 57-77.

Stephen Zunes, ‘South Africa: The Townships Rise Up’ in Veronique Dudouet (ed), Civil
Resistance and Conflict Transformation (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015).

(Gender and) The Decline of Violent Resistance?

Victor Asal et al., ‘Gender Ideologies and Forms of Contentious Mobilization in the Middle
East’, Journal of Peace Research 50, no. 3 (2013): 305–18.

Steven Pinker, ‘The Decline of War and Conceptions of Human Nature’, International
Studies Review 15, no.3 (2103): 400-05.

Cynthia Enloe, ‘What if Patriarchy is the Big Picture? An Afterword’ in Dyan Mazurana et
al. (eds.) Gender, Conflict, and Peacekeeping (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005).
Recommended

Veronique Dudouet, ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion’ to Veronique Dudouet (ed), Civil

Resistance and Conflict Transformation (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015).

Tom Lodge, ‘The Interplay of Non-violent and Violent Action in the Movement Against
Apartheid in South Africa, 1983-94’ in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil
Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Kenneth Maxwell, ‘Portugal: 'The Revolution of the Carnations', 1974-75’ in Adam Roberts
and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2009)

Valerie M. Hudson et al., ‘The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security
of States’, International Security 33, no. 3 (2009): 7–45.

Gila Svirsky, ‘Local Coalitions, Global Partners: The Women’s Peace Movement in Israel
and Beyond’, Signs 29, no. 2 (2004): 543–50.
Wendy Pearlman, Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement
(Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), Ch. 1.
Week 8: When Nonviolent Resistance Fails

Themes for Discussion

 What criteria should we use to assess whether a nonviolent resistance movement has
‘succeeded’ or ‘failed’? Whether or not a movement has realized its goals? Whether or
not it has contributed to a perceived common ‘good’?

 When nonviolent movements fail to realize their stated objectives, is that failure due to
the absence of facilitating structural conditions (opportunities, resources) and/or
strategic mistakes by movement leaders?

 When nonviolence collapses into large-scale violence, is that shift driven by particular
structural conditions, the strategic mistakes of movement actors, and/or foreign
interventions?

Required

Why Nonviolent Resistance Movements Sometimes Fail

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), Conclusion.

Thomas Davies, ‘The Failure of Strategic Nonviolent Action in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and
Syria’, Global Change, Peace and Security 26, no.3 (2014): 299-313.

Brian Martin, ‘Failure of Nonviolent Action?’, Global Change, Peace, and Security 28, no.1
(2016): 117-22.

Case Studies [Choose two]

Howard Clark, ‘The Limits of Prudence: Civil Resistance in Kosovo, 1990-98’ in Adam
Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil Resistance and Power Politics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2009).

Raymond Hinnebusch et al, ‘Civil Resistance in the Syrian Uprising’ Adam Roberts et al.,
(eds.), Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), Ch.2.

Recommended

Peter Ackerman, ‘Skills or Conditions: What Key Factors Shape the Success or Failure of
Civil Resistance?’ Contribution to Conference on Civil Resistance and Power Politics
(Oxford University, 2007).
Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works (New York: Columbia
University Press, 2011), Ch. 7.

Alexei Anisin, ‘Violence Begets Violence: Why States Should not Lethally Repress Popular
Protest’, The International Journal of Human Rights (Online advance publication, 2016)

Aleksandar Marsavelski et al., ‘Did Nonviolent Resistance Fail in Kosovo?’. RegNet

Research Paper, No. 112, School of Regulation and Global Governance (Canberra,
Australian National University, 2016).

Adam Roberts, ‘Civil Resistance and the Fate of the Arab Spring’ in Adam Roberts et al.,
eds., Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

John Gledhill et al., Symposium on ‘Assessing (In)security after the Arab Spring’ in PS:
Politics and Political Science 46, no. 4 (2013): 709-40.

Sheila Carapico, ‘Yemen Between Revolution and Counter-Terrorism,’ in Helen Lackner

(ed.), Why Yemen Matters: A Society in Transition, ed. Helen Lackner (Saqi Books and
SOAS, London, 2014).

Maria Popova, ‘Why the Orange Revolution Was Short and Peaceful and Euromaidan Long
and Violent,’ Problems of Post-Communism 61, no. 6 (2014): 64–70.
Appendix: Films

A Force More Powerful (2000), Vol. 1 (~95 mins)

This documentary graphically demonstrates that as war has become more violent and the means
of communication more effective, people have adapted by developing a new political force of
immense power: nonviolent direct action (also called ‘civil disobedience,’ and ‘non-violent
resistance’ or ‘civil resistance’). This film shows the modern origins of the new political/social
force by Mohandas K. Gandhi in South Africa and India. It describes other examples of
nonviolent direct action at work. Nonviolent direct action continues to be a major source of
progressive political and social change throughout the world.

Source: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/force-more-powerful.html

Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2004) (108 mins)

Lee Hirsch spent nine years putting together the ambitious documentary Amandla! A
Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. The film records the history of music being used as a
form of social protest against Apartheid in South Africa. Interviews and archival footage help
to tell the tales of figures like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, and
Vuyisile Mini. Mini's songs became such a powerful social force that his remains were
exhumed and reburied in order to show proper respect after the end of Apartheid. This look at
political oppression and the courage required to fight it was screened at the 2002 Sundance
Film Festival.

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/amandla_a_revolution_in_four_part_harmony/

Bringing Down a Dictator (2001) (56 mins)

Bringing Down a Dictator tells the story of Slobodan Milosevic's defeat in October 2000 -
not by force of arms, as many had predicted, but by a nonviolent strategy of honest elections
and massive civil disobedience. Using exclusive footage and conversations with the principal
actors, the documentary shows how the youth movement Otpor, Serbian for Resistance, in
partnership with pro-democracy and human rights groups, turned the people of Serbia against
Milosevic. Narrated by Martin Sheen.

Source: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/bringing-down-dictator