by Brian Martin

Interest in nonviolent action is greater today than it ever has been. This is reflected in the number and sophistication of nonviolent campaigns, in media coverage and popular understanding, and in new books. Several terrific new nonviolence books were published last year.

Decades ago, really good books in the area were uncommon. There was Gandhi’s autobiography, Richard Gregg’s The Power of Nonviolence (1934), and Joan Bondurant’s  Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict (1958). These classic treatments are all in the Gandhian tradition, and each one is still worth reading today. Other favorites of mine are Bart de Ligt, The Conquest of Violence: An Essay on War and Revolution (1937), and Gene Sharp’s epic The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973). Each of Sharp’s three parts is available separately and is a book in itself. Back in the 1970s, I read it from beginning to end, but these days many just look at Sharp’s list of 198 methods of nonviolent action. Sharp put so-called “pragmatic nonviolent action” on the agenda as an alternative or complement to the Gandhian tradition. (Please see the note at the end for bibliographical details of the above titles.)

Below I review five books published in 2015 that make important contributions to the field, and also two others published in late 2015 and in 2016. Full disclosure: I should mention that I’m not a neutral commentator. For each of the first four books, I either commented on drafts of the text or on the book proposal. As you’ll see, I think they are all excellent and worth reading. (Please see the note at the end for full details of each of the titles under review.)

Nonviolent Struggle

Sharon Erickson Nepstad is a prominent figure in the field, noted for her book Nonviolent Revolutions. She has a new book simply titled Nonviolent Struggle. (Please see the note at the end for full details of each of the titles under review.) It’s intended as a textbook, and covers the field systematically. It is clear and logically organized. More than clear, it is engaging, with a combination of analysis and case studies serving very effectively to convey ideas in a way that will stick with readers and no doubt inspire a few.

The scholarship behind the text is impressive, with coverage of Gandhian, Sharpian and other frameworks. The references show an up-to-date familiarity with the literature. One of the strongest aspects of the book, one easily missed, is the use of simple categories in nearly every chapter to give structure to the discussion. Some of these categories are standard ones in the literature; others are – so far as I know – original. A critical scholar might quibble with some of these categories, but I think they work very well pedagogically, and therefore are superior to more complicated frameworks. Nonviolent Struggle deserves to become the recommended reading for anyone starting out to understand the nonviolence field.

Chapter 1 is an excellent overview of meanings and misconceptions concerning nonviolence, beginning with pacifism and misconceptions about it, and moving to principled and pragmatic nonviolence. Chapter 2, “Religious and Ethical Positions on War and Nonviolence,” is a logical and well-argued case that the teachings of major religions are compatible with or encourage nonviolence. Chapter 3, “The Strategy of Nonviolent Resistance,” provides informative overviews of perspectives on power, methods of nonviolent action and nonviolent campaigns, with a nice summary of Otpor’s campaign against Slobodan Milosevic.

Chapter 4 addresses nine types of nonviolent action, giving a sense of varieties of goals and circumstances in which nonviolent action can be used. The case studies illustrating each type give sufficient detail to provide a good sense of what is involved. The range of types, from hidden acts of individual resistance to regime change, is a special strength of the chapter. In chapter 5, “Dynamics of Nonviolent Struggles,” the features of nonviolent struggles are explained in a straightforward, understandable way, via a series of stages and facets. A case study of Indonesia 1998 is used to illustrate these stages and facets. Overall, this is quite an effective treatment of the key issues, using good sources to back up the arguments. Chapter 6, “Outcomes and Consequences of Nonviolent Struggles,” is a lucid survey of research and arguments about the results of nonviolent struggles. Especially good is the sensitivity to the limits of current research, with some questions left open.

Chapter 7 addresses the crucial issue of the role of armed forces in nonviolent movements seeking regime change, an area of special interest to Nepstad. The analysis here is well structured with a table of factors influencing loyalty and defections providing a guide to the subsequent discussion. The case studies from the Arab spring are clearly explained and provide an excellent avenue for understanding the role of different factors. Chapter 8, “The Global Diffusion of Nonviolence,” gives an overview of key mechanisms of diffusion; the detailed case study of the US civil rights movement is used to illustrate the mechanisms. Chapter 9, “Future Directions in Nonviolence and Civil Resistance Research,” is a good way to end the book, showing students there are still plenty of things worth investigating.

Nonviolent Struggle is knowledgeable and up-to-date. Yet what really makes it stand out is that it’s readable. Telling stories about nonviolent campaigns is always a winner; it is what makes Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall’s book A Force More Powerful so worthwhile – but Nepstad also makes theory interesting through her engaging style. I think this is the ideal text for many introductory nonviolence classes: students will find it appealing while they are carried through key concepts in the field.

Civil Resistance Today

No single textbook is perfect for every reader, and it’s definitely worth checking out another recent, excellent text by Kurt Schock. As is Nepstad, he is also a leading researcher in the field. His earlier book Unarmed Insurrections is a pioneering contribution, linking together nonviolence and social movement theory. His new book is titled Civil Resistance Today. “Civil resistance” is the expression currently used interchangeably by academics to refer to nonviolent action. I’d recommend Civil Resistance Today for upper level undergraduates, but it is readable by anyone with an interest in the topic, being filled with examples.

Civil Resistance Today covers the field systematically. The book begins with an overview of key concepts, specifically to answer the question “What is civil resistance?”  The first chapter also includes careful discussions of responses to some of the most difficult questions in the field, for example “Can civil resistance be effective in extremely repressive contexts?” Schock is eminently qualified to address misconceptions about nonviolent action, having written a widely cited article addressing 19 common misconceptions.

Chapter 2 addresses both practice and theory. The practice of civil resistance includes struggles centuries and even millennia ago. There have been struggles for democratic freedoms, for workers’ rights, and against war, among others. Then there is theory, including approaches inspired by Gandhi and by Gene Sharp. Schock gives special attention to connections between civil resistance research and social movement studies, showing similarities and differences.

Chapter 3 surveys the expanding use of civil resistance, using a range of case studies. These include social movements, for example the feminist and anti-racist movements, struggles against repressive governments, national liberation movements, and campaigns against economic inequality, for example the Occupy movement. In contrast, Chapter 4 is about theories for explaining resistance. Schock introduces standard ideas from social movement theory, including collective action frames, mobilizing structures, and political opportunities. Also covered is the way that struggles – both nonviolent and violent – reflect the social context. Movements typically draw from a standard repertoire of methods, depending on beliefs, circumstances, and strategies.

Chapter 5 is about the conflict or contest between governments and protesters. Authorities can use repression, for example arrests, beatings, and killings, but sometimes when repression is too blatant, it can trigger greater resistance. Then there is the question of how challengers should respond to repression, by switching from concentrated forms of resistance such as rallies to dispersed forms such as boycotts.

Schock next addresses, in Chapter 6, trans-national activism, including organizations, training, and campaigns. An international or trans-national perspective is vital because there is considerable sharing of ideas and providing of assistance among states and among nonviolent campaigners.

Chapter 7 discusses mechanisms for social change via nonviolent action, using Sharp’s categories of conversion, accommodation, nonviolent coercion, and disintegration. It also covers three factors that help determine the outcome of campaigns: mobilizing of mass support, surviving repression, and undermining the authority’s pillars of support. In the final chapter, Schock summarizes key points and debates, and looks at possible future research.

Even though I’ve read a lot about nonviolent action over the years, I found plenty to learn from both his Nonviolent Struggle, and Civil Resistance Today. (See the note at the end for bibliographical details.) Though designed as texts, anyone in the field can benefit from their knowledgeable expositions and coverage of concepts, approaches, and the latest research. The publication of Nepstad’s and Schock’s books suggests that the field of nonviolence studies is gaining more credibility and visibility. Since the publication of Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan’s groundbreaking book Why Civil Resistance Works, there has been a huge upsurge of interest in nonviolent action within the research community. As well, the Arab spring put nonviolence on the map in a way that, for whatever reasons, previous nonviolent campaigns had not.

Nonviolent Resistance

Another important contribution published in 2015 is Todd May’s book Nonviolent Resistance. The title might sound like Nepstad’s book, but the content is rather different, as indicated by the subtitle: A Philosophical Introduction. May was an activist and became a philosopher, and now melds these two trajectories together in a persuasive account of two key values in nonviolence, dignity and equality. The first chapter is a readable account of nonviolent struggle. Then there are two chapters about the definition and dynamics of nonviolent action, followed by two on the values of dignity and equality.

May’s writing is clear and his arguments logically presented. Nevertheless, this is philosophical writing, with arguments, counterarguments, evidence, and counterexamples, all making sense but challenging for those not familiar with this sort of careful exposition. For example, there are long discussions of the ideas of Immanuel Kant, Jacques Rancière, and others.

The dominant orientation of most nonviolent activists today is pragmatic: nonviolent methods are chosen because they are thought to be more effective. The Gandhian emphasis on truth and moral purity is usually a lesser theme. May bridges the gap between these two approaches by highlighting dignity and equality as values that are inherent in nonviolent action as a practice. Simply posed, refusing to physically harm opponents is to accord them dignity, while choosing a method of action that allows widespread participation is to foster equality. May says that nonviolent action is a “bottom-up” approach: it empowers people rather than rulers. It is a natural companion of participatory democracy.

In philosophy, ethics and politics are usually treated as separate domains, though of course there are connections between them. May argues that nonviolent action, more than any other form of action, collapses the distinction between ethics and politics, because particular ethical assumptions are built into nonviolent action. Nonviolent Resistance thus is both a significant contribution to the understanding of the ethical foundations of nonviolent action and a challenge to philosophers to pay attention to nonviolent action and the way it forges a special type of unity of ethics and politics. As May puts it, “the central place of ethics in political action is perhaps instantiated in nonviolence more than anywhere else.”

A Theory of Nonviolent Action

Let me turn now to an extraordinary new book, Stellan Vinthagen’s A Theory of Nonviolent Action. (Also see our extensive review of this title, posted here.) It’s not often that there’s a significant new contribution to theory in the field. You could cite Richard Gregg and Gene Sharp, but not a lot of others.

Vinthagen proposes that nonviolent action has four dimensions, which he calls dialogue facilitation, power breaking, utopian enactment, and normative regulation. The point is that there are several things going on in nonviolent struggles, and you can better understand these struggles by applying these four dimensions. This analysis goes beyond the usual measures of being ethical and being effective.

Vinthagen begins with a definition of nonviolence as: without violence and against violence. This sounds simple, yet it is remarkably useful for distinguishing nonviolence from neighboring domains. Activities like going for a walk or growing vegetables are without violence, but they are not actively against violence, whereas holding a vigil at an arms fair satisfies both conditions in the definition.

After reviewing prior nonviolence theorizing, including the work of Gandhi, Gene Sharp, feminists, and nonviolent movements (which demonstrate a type of theory-in-action), Vinthagen returns to his definition, showing its complications, tensions, and possibilities. If nonviolence is without and against violence, then what it involves depends on the type of violence involved, whether this be physical attack, exploitation (a type of structural violence), or denial of opportunities for expressing one’s capacities. Through his careful discussion, Vinthagen argues that a full expression of the ultimate possibilities for nonviolence is necessarily an aspiration impossible to achieve, yet one worth pursuing.

To identify the four dimensions of nonviolence, Vinthagen starts with a general conception of nonviolence, following Gandhi, as a way to reach a truth, in the sense of a common understanding. He then looks at the rationality of nonviolent action through the lens of social theorist Jürgen Habermas’s classification of actions into four types: rational goal-directed, norm-setting, expressive, and communicative. Vinthagen identifies four analogous dimensions of nonviolent action, and shows how each one was expressed in the sit-ins used in the US civil rights movement. This is a move away from the Sharpian methods-oriented approach, which reflects the single dimension of strategically achieving goals.

The first of the four dimensions Vinthagen calls “dialogue facilitation.” Dialogue is the core of Habermas’s communicative rationality: it is the seeking of truth, or of a resolution of differences, through rational argument according to agreed premises of how to conduct the argument. One arena for dialogue is within social movements. In the nonviolence, feminist and other movements, efforts have been made for decades to develop respectful, egalitarian, and efficient ways for discussion and decision-making within groups, often built around formalized consensus-seeking processes. These processes are participatory, and are a reflection of Todd May’s view that equality is a core value in nonviolence. However, seeking dialogue with opponents is another matter, because of power differences and often the refusal of opponents to engage in open and honest discussions. Hence, methods of nonviolent action, such as rallies, strikes, and boycotts, may be used to encourage opponents to enter into dialogue. In South Africa, for example, decades of resistance to the apartheid state, within the country and internationally, led eventually to a genuine dialogue between anti-apartheid campaigners and the country’s rulers, which in turn laid the basis for a peaceful end to apartheid.

The second dimension of nonviolence is “power breaking”. In many cases, power-holders do not willingly engage in dialogue, and may use force against challengers. The question then arises: what is the source of social power? In contrast to the traditional (and still common) monolithic view of power as something possessed by rulers, Sharp proposed a consent theory of power according to which the acquiescence or cooperation of subjects is the basis for the power of rulers. Withdrawing consent, for example through protests, strikes, or setting up alternative communication systems, then becomes a way to challenge and bring down rulers. Vinthagen counterposes Sharp’s consent theory with Michel Foucault’s picture of power as built into social structures and relationships, as produced through everyone’s actions. For Foucault, no one is outside of power and so the idea of resistance has to be modified, because everyone is shaped by power systems even as they seek to change them. Vinthagen blends ideas from Sharp and Foucault and proposes the concept of “cooperative subordination” to capture insights from each of their perspectives. The usual methods of nonviolent action serve to challenge power-over and replace it with power-with, a cooperative alternative to systems of domination. Vinthagen classifies nonviolent methods into six categories: counter-discourse; alternative institutions; non-cooperation; withdrawal; hindrance; and dramatizing of injustice.

Vinthagen’s third dimension of nonviolence is “utopian enactment,” which refers to behaving in a way that embodies desirable future relationships. In a conflict situation where there is a risk of being harmed, nonviolent activists, rather than fighting or fleeing, continue with respectful action that ideally clashes with an opponent’s expectations. In polarized conflicts, the other side is seen as the enemy and is demonized. Nonviolent action confounds the usual image of the enemy.

In Gandhi’s perspective, self-suffering is an important part of satyagraha, but this is easy to misrepresent as adopting a victim role. Vinthagen closely analyzes the arguments about suffering and concludes that in nonviolent action, a key point is that activists accept the risk of suffering: they are aware of being in danger and do not attempt to forcibly resist or to escape.

Vinthagen examines the dimension of utopian enactment through the lens of social roles and looking at human behavior as a type of performance in a drama, drawing on social theorist Erving Goffman. In this framework, nonviolent action involves playing an unexpected role, for example in behaving openly and honestly and expressing friendship. In this way nonviolent action models a different sort of relationship, a utopian alternative to domination.

Vinthagen’s fourth dimension of nonviolence is “normative regulation.” In many domains today, there is an assumption that violence is needed to protect order and freedom, as exemplified by police, militaries, prisons, and arms manufacture, as well as media portrayals of wars and policing. In place of this normalization of violence, the promise of nonviolence is to bring about an alternative set of norms, and it does this in part through nonviolent action exemplifying or prefiguring social relations without violence. This is closely related to Gandhi’s constructive program, which aims to create an alternative society based on equality, self-reliance, and solidarity.

An important way that activists promote an alternative moral order is through nonviolence training, involving exercises for fostering cooperative group dynamics, role plays of conflict situations, and games and brainstorming to build understanding. Vinthagen relates nonviolence training to social theorist Pierre Bourdieu’s idea of habitus, acquired sets of habits and ways of thinking that shape people’s behavior. Whereas Bourdieu saw little scope for individual agency to change habitus, Vinthagen sees nonviolence training as one means to do this. However, such training is usually short and episodic; for a more sustained development of nonviolent social norms, intentional communities are valuable, following the example of Gandhi and ashrams.

Vinthagen’s four dimensions are ways of thinking about nonviolence, of understanding its implications, possibilities, and shortcomings. No action can ever fulfill the promise of all four dimensions, but by looking at them and their interactions and implications, it is possible to gain a greater understanding of how to achieve the potential of nonviolence for creating a different world.

In A Theory of Nonviolent Action, Vinthagen draws on insights from his many years as an activist as well as his formidable knowledge as a theorist. Fortunately, A Theory of Nonviolent Action is filled with examples; considering the level of theory presented, the book is very readable. For anyone interested in nonviolence research, I’d recommend putting this at the top of your reading list, because I think it will become a classic, and knowing Vinthagen’s four dimensions will be as important as knowing Sharp’s main types of nonviolent action.

Blueprint for Revolution

If you know activists who have no patience for academic treatments and you want to get them thinking more from a nonviolence perspective, try suggesting Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic with Matthew Miller. It’s light on theory and referencing, but it’s a page-turner filled with practical insights. The subtitle gives an indication of its style: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World.

This entertaining introduction to nonviolent action is told through stories about struggles, including Popovic’s meetings with activists in Egypt and Syria. The stories include Gandhi’s campaigns, the US civil rights movement, the Philippines, Ukraine, Israel (a boycott of cottage cheese), and various others. There are many stories about Serbia: Popovic was a key figure in the group Otpor that was instrumental in the movement that brought down Serbia’s ruler Milosevic in 2000. Blueprint for Revolution covers the need to imagine the world being different (to counter the common attitude of defeatism), having a vision of alternatives, see the pillars of power and how to undermine them, the use of humor (an important part of Otpor’s approach), how violence against peaceful protesters can backfire, movement unity, planning, the problem of violence, and finishing the job.

The book has only a few references, mainly to Gene Sharp’s work, but nothing systematic. This is Popovic speaking from his experience as an activist and as a teacher of nonviolent strategy. The text breezes along in a way unusual in the field.

Postscript: Reflections on Writing

These books should be enough to keep most readers occupied, but they do not exhaust the recent offerings. Two others worth reading are Janjira Sombatpoonsiri’s Humor and Nonviolent Struggle in Serbia and Jason MacLeod’s Merdeka and the Morning Star: Civil Resistance in West Papua. Each looks at particular nonviolent struggles, with deep insights that can be applied elsewhere.

Keeping up with good writing about nonviolence is becoming ever more difficult, which undoubtedly is a good thing. Still, the body of writing in the field is limited when compared to the voluminous writing about wars, past and present. There are as yet many untapped areas for nonviolence research and writing. The inspiration of much of this work will continue to be the courageous efforts of activists throughout the world.

And writing about nonviolence can serve several functions, among them understanding, inspiration, and guidance. Much writing is designed to aid readers’ understanding of the topic, and this is especially true of the texts by Nepstad and Schock. Reports of research also aim to improve understanding. The books by May and Vinthagen offer original perspectives that can help readers think in more insightful ways about what is involved in nonviolent action.

Another crucial role of nonviolence writing is inspiration: it can encourage readers to believe in nonviolent alternatives, to support nonviolent movements, and to become active themselves. Given that nonviolence has long been marginalized within government policy, academia, and popular culture, it is only natural that advocates emphasize the power and effectiveness of nonviolent action, most commonly by telling stories of successful campaigns. This is apparent in all the books reviewed here. It would be strange to dwell on failures, and indeed it is probably just as rare for writings about the military to devote attention to the shortcomings of military approaches to conflict. Nevertheless, there is a tension between giving an even-handed assessment of nonviolent action and providing inspiring stories.

Yet another crucial role of nonviolence writing is guidance for activists. Many readers are looking less for deeper insights into the history and dynamics of nonviolent action than for ideas about what to do and how to do it. Stories of Gandhi’s campaigns and the US civil rights movement are all very well, but applying them to climate change campaigning, for example, is not straightforward. Many readers feel an urgency to act on crucial social issues, and no doubt expect too much from accounts of nonviolent action.

Even so, the question arises: can nonviolence theorizing and writing do more to provide ways of thinking that help activists in their day-to-day endeavors? Todd May highlights the two values of dignity and equality. What are the practical implications? Vinthagen shows that nonviolence can be understood as having four dimensions. What use can activists make of this perspective?

Research on social movements has been criticized for being about rather than for the movements being studied. The research is all very interesting to the researchers but doesn’t tell campaigners much that can help them in a practical sense. Nonviolence research, in contrast, is much more activist oriented, in part because so much of it is about strategy and methods. Nevertheless, it can be asked whether theory should be more directly linked to practice, so that understanding and acting are more closely connected. This is a difficult challenge for any theorist or writer, and it potentially clashes with the scholarly quest for a fair and balanced account of a social phenomenon. For the time being, activists will have to be content with learning from these books, being inspired by the stories of successful movements, and having to rely on their own thinking and experience to figure out the best way to undertake nonviolent campaigns.

Books Reviewed (listed in order of review):

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies, and Dynamics, London: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Kurt Schock, Civil Resistance Today, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2015.

Todd May, Nonviolent Resistance: A Philosophical Introduction, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2015.

Stellan Vinthagen, A Theory of Nonviolent Action: How Civil Resistance Works, London: Zed Books, 2015.

Srdja Popovic and Matthew Miller, Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Non-violent Techniques to Galvanise Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World, London: Scribe Publication, 2015 (new revised edition).

Other Titles Mentioned:

Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall, A Force More Powerful, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Joan Bondurant, Conquest of Violence, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1971. The title has a complicated publishing history. Princeton University Press published the first edition in 1958. The edition referred to here is the 4^th printing of the 1965, revised edition.

Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

Mohandas K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth: an Autobiography, New York: Penguin Books, 2008; this is the most readily available edition, with an excellent Introduction by Pankaj Mishraj. The first edition, in Gandhi’s native Gujarati, was published in two volumes, New Delhi: Navajivan Publishing, 1927.

Richard Gregg, The Power of Nonviolence, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1934; there have been several reprints over the years and the title is readily available via internet book sites.

Bart de Ligt, The Conquest of Violence: An Essay on War and Revolution, London: Pluto Press, 1989;  this is the most readily available edition.

Jason MacLeod, Merdeka and the Morning Star: Civil Resistance in West Papua, Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 2016.

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

Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973.

Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, Humor and Nonviolent Struggle in Serbia. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2015.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Brian Martin is professor of social sciences at the University of Wollongong, Australia and vice president of Whistleblowers Australia. He is the author of 14 books and hundreds of articles on dissent, nonviolence, scientific controversies, democracy and other topics. An abbreviated version of this review was posted on wagingnonviolence.org, August 23, 2016; but this expanded text is posted with thanks to Brian Martin.