An emerging consensus holds that nonviolent resistance campaigns are more successful than violent campaigns, partly because they attract more participants. Yet, we lack an understanding of whether ...and why nonviolent tactics attracts support. We propose two motivational logics that can explain support for nonviolence: An instrumentalist logic, whereby nonviolent resistance is preferred based on cost-benefit considerations, and an intrinsic logic where nonviolent resistance is preferred because of perceived inherent moral worth. To investigate the motivational pull of these two logics, we conduct a pre-registered survey experiment among more than 5000 respondents across 33 countries in fall 2019. We find that nonviolent tactics strongly increase movement support relative to violent tactics, and that the preference for nonviolence is primarily driven by intrinsic commitments to the moral worth of nonviolent resistance, rather than instrumental considerations.
Why do organizations choose to use nonviolence? Why do they choose specific nonviolent tactics? Existing quantitative work centers on mass nonviolent campaign, but much of the nonviolence employed in ...contentious politics is smaller-scale nonviolent direct action. In this article, we explore the determinants of nonviolence with new data at the organization level in self-determination disputes from 1960 to 2005. We present a novel argument about the interdependence of tactical choices among nonviolent options in self-determination movements. Given limitations on their capabilities, competition among organizations in a shared movement, and different resource requirements for nonviolent strategies, we show that organizations have incentives to diversify tactics rather than just copy other organizations. The empirical analysis reveals a rich picture of varied organizational resistance choices, and a complex web of interdependence among tactics.
Public underestimation of support for climate change policy is striking. Social science research tells us this is bad news, but also tells us what to do about it. Climate change communication must ...hammer home the overwhelming support for action.A new study finds that Americans underestimate how many are concerned about climate change as well as support for major climate policies by nearly half, with climate policy supporters significantly outnumbering non-supporters.
In 1885, Kropotkin called for geography to be ‘a means of dissipating hostile prejudices’ between nations that make conflicts more likely, and ‘creating other feelings more worthy of humanity’. As a ...body of scholars, we have risen far more ably to the negative task of ‘dissipating’ than to the positive charge of ‘creating’: Geography is better at researching war than peace. To redress that imbalance, we need both to
conceptualise more clearly what we mean by peace, and make a
commitment to researching and practising it. These arguments are made with reference to the broader literature and research along the Danish/German, Israeli/Palestinian and Kyrgyz/Uzbek interfaces.
► Geography has handled the study of war with more depth and panache than the study of peace. ► This needs rectifying in order to make geography more useful. ► We must do two things: conceptualise peace, and make a commitment to it.
This article analyzes the psychological conditions of bu ren 不忍, in Menicus’ thought. I identify four necessary psychological conditions of one who experiences bu ren: (1) she adopts an unmediated ...perspective, (2) she adopts an involved stance, (3) she identifies the victim as a particular, and (4) she does not want the victim to be harmed. The proposed interpretation highlights the relation-regarding nature of bu ren and suggests that, for Mencius, we naturally see ourselves as involved in the circumstances of harm that others are in.
Violence generally monopolizes the discourse of social change. An alternative voice is that of marginalized people who confront nonviolently the danger of forfeited basic rights and need to secure ...rights. This essay applies sociological theories on the causes of violence as well as peacebuilding/nonviolence literature to three case studies: 1) Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo through a Christian Liberation Theology perspective; 2) the Islamic revolution in Iran; and 3) the Gandhian/Buddist Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka. These case studies illustrate the role that religion plays in nonviolent efforts to attain human rights recognition and suggest that marginalized voices may be heard as peacebuilding literature and nonviolent rights recognition helps us transcend the human rights dichotomy. This paper’s main purpose is to break violence’s monopoly on the discourse of social change and to allow room for nonviolent movements to contribute to the dialogue.
The cotruction of society that Gandhi is trying to build is a manifestation of his religious or religious faith. Where each individual jointly runs his life activity in the life of society as a holy ...dharma of religion. As dharma then every individual must be able to defeat any potential greed in developing autonomization of individuality to realize mutual interests. The idealization of society that Gandhi aspires to is inseparable from the idealization of the perfection of human beings as the main core of society. The idealization of society for Gandhi is what the Indian community calls the ashram. Ashram has in common with ashrama terminology. Ashram is the ideal conception of community building as a model community. Such community prototypes contain a set of cultural roots that make up the ideological constructions of society. The cultural roots are established as living principles that must be obeyed by the ashram citizens. The estuary of all is the enforcement of the principle of brotherhood of mankind. The value of humanity that is the culmination and the key word for every form of devotion by upholding that all human beings are equal and brothers, should not be exaggerated or feel more than others. This principle of 'all brothers' is the moral principle in Gandhi idealized society. The implications of Gandhi's thought increasingly find a point of relevance to forming civil society in Indonesia.
Background: Advocates for children’s rights have recommended the elimination of all forms of violent discipline given its detrimental effects on children’s development. Yet, little is known about the ...global prevalence of various forms of discipline, including physical and psychological aggression, as well as alternative forms of non-violent discipline, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Objective: This study aims to obtain national, regional, and global prevalence estimates of the percentage and number of 2- to- 4-y-olds in LMICs exposed to these disciplinary practices by their caregivers.
Participants and setting: We use data collected between 2010 and 2016 from 107,063 2- to- 4-y-old children living in 49 LMICs as part of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
Methods: Using the best-fitting model based on cross-validation techniques, we performed predictive modeling to generate country-level prevalence estimates for 131 LMICs in 2013, as well as 95% confidence intervals around these estimates.
Results: We estimate that 296.2 million 2- to- 4-y-olds (95% CI 256.9, 300.9) were exposed to non-violent discipline in 2013, which corresponds to 83.9% of the population. Furthermore, 220.4 million (95% CI 138.1, 283.7) and 230.7 million (95% CI 128.4, 300.6) children were exposed to aggressive physical and psychological discipline, respectively, which corresponds to prevalence of 62.5% and 65.4%. We also identify a high heterogeneity in the estimates across and within regions, finding a higher prevalence of both violent disciplinary methods in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Conclusions: These results suggest the need for new policies and programs to minimize violent discipline around the world.
Abstract In recent years, a major focus of research and campaigning on strategic nonviolent action has been on movements to oust authoritarian rulers. However, these “nonviolent revolutions” usually ...do not transform systems of economic and social domination. To motivate appreciation of what might be involved in a more far‐reaching social transformation, selected anarchist themes offer useful guides. The relevance of four principles of anarchist theory and practice—non‐hierarchy, self‐management, direct action, and prefiguration—is illustrated in the South African struggle against apartheid. Activists should consider how to use nonviolent strategies to move beyond systems of domination based on states and capitalism.
Around the world, movements for justice or social change struggle with the question of whether to use nonviolent or violent protest strategies. While research suggests that nonviolent strategies may ...be more successful than violent ones, people's preferences and support for different strategies may depend on their specific role in the conflict. We tested this in Study 1 in the context of the Kurdish question in Turkey (N = 320), and we found that Turks and Americans supported nonviolent movements more than violent movements, while Kurds were equally supportive of both. Study 2 (N = 192) replicated Study 1 and investigated whether the preference for nonviolent strategies among the third‐party group was dependent on the perceivers' specific preferred outcomes in the conflict. We found that, in the context of the Kurdish question in Syria, third‐party Americans still supported nonviolent movements more than violent movements regardless of their preferred outcomes, although the more that they preferred that Kurds would win the conflict, the more supportive they were of both nonviolent and violent protest movements. These studies suggest that the preference for nonviolent strategies may depend on people's role in the conflict, with important implications for addressing conflict needs and conflict resolution.
PDF
