How to Sharpen a Nonviolent Movement

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
How to Sharpen a Nonviolent Movement
Abstract
In the past three decades nonviolent social protest has become the most reliable path to democracy. However, not all nonviolent mobilization campaigns succeed. To examine why some nonviolent campaigns are more successful than others, we analyze the use of a particular type of activist campaign tactic, the "dilemma action." The dilemma action is a nonviolent civil-disobedience tactic that provokes a "response dilemma" for the target. Collecting original data on dilemma actions during nonviolent activist campaigns, we find that roughly one-third of mass nonviolent campaigns in the past century deploy this strategy. We theorize four mechanisms linking dilemma actions to nonviolent activist campaign success: facilitating group formation, delegitimizing opponents, reducing fear, and generating sympathetic media coverage. Finally, we assess whether dilemma actions increase campaign success rates, finding that dilemma actions are associated with an increase of 11–16 percent in activist-campaign success.
Publication
Journal of Democracy
Volume
34
Issue
1
Pages
110-125
Date
2023
ISSN
1086-3214
Accessed
14/11/2023, 22:38
Library Catalogue
Project MUSE
Extra
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Citation
McClennen, S., Popovic, S., & Wright, J. (2023). How to Sharpen a Nonviolent Movement. Journal of Democracy, 34(1), 110–125. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/875802