Between Mao and Gandhi: The Social Roots of Civil Resistance

Nonviolent action has been effective in overthrowing autocratic regimes and bringing about revolutionary political change. This book explores the processes through which challenger organizations come to embrace or reject civil resistance as a means of capturing state power, drawing on cases from Nepal, Syria, India, and South Africa, and global cross-national data. It develops a relational theory showing how social ties shape their ability and willingness to attempt regime change using nonviolent means alone.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 260 pages
\n Publication date: 30 September 2021
\n Publisher: Cambridge University Press
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Nonviolent action has been a powerful force for political change, from Eastern Europe to South Africa to the Arab Spring. Dissidents have embraced nonviolent strategies to overthrow autocratic regimes, while others have ruled it out in favor of taking up arms. Despite a growing interest in nonviolent movements, our understanding of their origins and trajectories remains limited. This book explores the processes through which challenger organizations come to embrace or reject civil resistance as a means of capturing state power. Drawing on cases from Nepal, Syria, India, and South Africa, as well as global cross-national data, it develops a relational theory that shows how the social ties that underpin challenger organizations shape their ability and willingness to attempt regime change using nonviolent means alone.

Nonviolent action has proven capable of overthrowing autocratic regimes and bringing about revolutionary political change. How do dissidents come to embrace a nonviolent strategy in the first place? Why do others rule it out in favor of taking up arms? Despite a new wave of attention to the effectiveness and global impact of nonviolent movements, our understanding of their origins and trajectories remains limited. Drawing on cases from Nepal, Syria, India, and South Africa, as well as global cross-national data, this book details the processes through which challenger organizations come to embrace or reject civil resistance as a means of capturing state power. It develops a relational theory, showing how the social ties that underpin challenger organizations shape their ability and willingness to attempt regime change using nonviolent means alone.

\n Weight: 560g\n
Dimension: 159 x 235 x 26 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781108844062\n \n