Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nonviolent Action

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Bottom-up Responses to Crisis

Part of the book series: Mercatus Studies in Political and Social Economy ((MSPSE))

Abstract

Nonviolent action involves private parties coming together to resist undesired actions from other groups both within or outside of society. Nonviolent action is decentralized and emergent in nature, and has played a role as a type of bottom-up response to crises. However, this form of action has largely been neglected as a potential solution to crisis in the literature. To address this gap, this chapter reviews the relevant literature on nonviolent action from the eighteenth century to contemporary scholarship and discusses open areas for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

eBook
USD 17.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 19.43
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    The literature on nonviolent action is silent regarding the normative content of the goals of the nonviolent efforts. In principle, nonviolent action could be used for beneficial outcomes—for example, protecting or expanding human rights and civil liberties—or to harm certain people or groups—for example, undermining rights and liberties.

  2. 2.

    According to the NAVCO Data Project website (NAVCO n.d.): “The Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project is a multi-level data collection effort that catalogues major nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns around the globe from 1900 to 2013. The project produces aggregate-level data on resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2013 (NAVCO 1), annual data on campaign behavior from 1946 to 2013 (NAVCO 2), and events data on tactical selection in a sample of 26 countries with major nonviolent and violent campaigns from 1991 to 2012 (NAVCO 3).”

  3. 3.

    For information on the center, see https://canvasopedia.org/about-us/.

References

  • Ackerman, P., and C. Kruegler. 1994. Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: The Dynamics of People Power in the Twentieth Century. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackerman, P., and J. DuVall. 2000. A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alinsky, S. 1989. Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ammons, J., and C.J. Coyne. 2018. Gene Sharp: The ‘Clausewitz of Nonviolent Warfare’. The Independent Review 23 (1): 149–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayer, M., F.S. Bethke, and D. Lambach. 2016. The Democratic Dividend of Nonviolent Resistance. Journal of Peace Research 53 (6): 758–771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedau, H.A., ed. 1969. Civil Disobedience: Theory and Practice. New York: Pegasus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bethke, F.S. 2017. Nonviolent Resistance and Peaceful Turnover of Power. Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy 23 (4): 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, B. 1977. Mahatma Gandhi. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bleiker, R. 1993. Nonviolent Struggle and the Revolution in East Germany. Boston: Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boettke, P.J., C.J. Coyne, and P.T. Leeson. 2008. Institutional Stickiness and the New Development Economics. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 67 (2008): 331–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boulding, K.E. 1999. Non-Violence and Power in the Twentieth Century. In Nonviolent Social Movements: A Geographical Perspective, ed. S. Zunes, L.R. Kurtz, and S.B. Asher, 9–17. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock, P. 1968. Radical Pacifists in Antebellum America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butcher, C. 2017. Geography and the Outcomes of Civil Resistance and Civil War. Third World Quarterly 38 (7): 1454–1472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butcher, C., J.L. Gray, and L. Mitchell. 2018. Striking It Free? Organized Labor and the Success of Civil Resistance. Journal of Global Security Studies 3 (3): 302–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butcher, C., and I. Svensson. 2014. Manufacturing Dissent: Modernization and the Onset of Major Nonviolent Resistance Campaigns. Journal of Conflict Resolution 60 (2): 311–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, A. 1995. Mahatma Gandhi: A Selected Bibliography. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Direct Action and Democracy Today. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. People Power and Political Change: Key Issues and Concepts. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E. 2010. The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery: Social Learning in a Post-Disaster Environment. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., and J. Myers. 2008. Discovery and Social Learning in Non-Priced Environments: An Austrian View of Social Network Theory. The Review of Austrian Economics 21 (2/3): 151–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., and V.H. Storr. 2009. Club Goods and Post-Disaster Community Return. Rationality & Society 21 (4): 429–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010a. The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Post-Katrina Community Recovery. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development 2 (1/2): 149–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010b. Expectations of Government Response to Disaster. Public Choice 144 (1–2): 253–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011a. Social Capital, Lobbying and Community-Based Interest Groups. Public Choice 149 (1–2): 167–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011b. Social Capital as Collective Narratives and Post-Disaster Community Recovery. The Sociological Review 59 (2): 266–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Commercial Relationships and Spaces After Disaster. Society 51 (6): 656–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chenoweth, E., and O.A. Lewis. 2013. Unpacking Nonviolent Campaigns: Introducing the NAVCO 2.0 Dataset. Journal of Peace Research 50 (3): 415–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Chodorov, F. 1980. Fugitive Essays: Selected Writings of Frank Chodorov. Indianapolis: Liberty Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. 1969. American Power and the New Mandarins. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chong, D. 1991. Collection Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cobb, C.E., Jr. 2014. This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coyne, C.J. 2015. Lobotomozing the Defense Brain. The Review of Austrian Economics 28 (4): 371–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, E.H. 1905. Garrison, the Non-Resistant. Chicago: The Public Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillon, M.L. 1974. The Abolitionists: The Growth of a Dissenting Minority. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandhi, M.K. 1993. An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser, E.L., and C. Sunstein. 2015. A Theory of Civil Disobedience. NBER Working Paper No. 21338. http://www.nber.org/papers/w21338.

  • Gramsci, A. 2011. Letters from Prison. Edited by F. Rosengarten and Translated by R. Rosenthal. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, F.A. 2014. The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek. In Volume 15: The Market and Other Orders, ed. B. Caldwell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A.O. Exit. 1970. Voice, and Loyalty. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J.D. 1986. Gandhi and the Nonconformists: Encounters in South Africa. New Delhi: Promilla & Company Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, S.P. 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, M.L., Jr. 1981. Strength to Love. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraditor, A. 1989. Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834–1850. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Boétie, E. [1735] 1942. The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. Translated by H. Kurz. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lichbach, M.I. 1994. Rethinking Rationality and Rebellion: Theories of Collective Action and Problems of Collective Dissent. Rationality and Society 6 (1): 8–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1995. The Rebel’s Dilemma: Collective Action and Collective Dissent. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, C.A. 1943. Thoreau and Tolstoy. The New England Quarterly 16 (2): 234–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattaini, M.A. 2013. Strategic Nonviolent Power: The Science of Satyagraha. Edmonton: AU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nāga, K. 1950. Tolstoy and Gandhi, No. 4. Patna: Pustak Bhandar.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Mutiny and Nonviolence in the Arab Spring: Exploring Military Defections and Loyalty in Egypt, Bahrain, and Syria. Journal of Peace Research 50 (3): 337–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NAVCO. n.d. NAVCO Data Project. Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security & Diplomacy, University of Denver. https://www.du.edu/korbel/sie/research/chenow_navco_data.html.

  • Oates, S.B. 1994. Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambrige: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piven, F.F., and R.A. Cloward. 1979. Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popović, S., and M. Miller. 2015. Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World. New York: Spiegel & Grau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popović, S., S. Djinovic, A. Milivojevic, H. Merriman, and I. Marovic. 2007. A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle: Students Book. Belgrade: Centre for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies, CANVAS Core Curriculum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powers, R.S., W.B. Vogele, C. Kruegler, and R.M. McCarthy. 2011. Protest, Power, and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from ACT-UP to Women’s Suffrage. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proudfoot, M. 1962. Diary of a Sit-in. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rediker, M. 2017. The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, S. 2018. Gene Sharp, Global Guru of Nonviolence Resistance, Dies at 90. The New York Times, February 2. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/obituaries/gene-sharp-global-guru-of-nonviolent-resistance-dies-at-90.html.

  • Robinson, J.A. 1981. Abraham Went Out: A Biography of A.J. Muste. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J.C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale Universsity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharp, G. 1960. Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1961. Gandhi Faces the Storm. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1970a. Exploring Nonviolent Alternatives. Boston: Extending Horizons Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1970b. National Security Through Civilian Based Defense. Omaha: Association for Transarmament Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1973. The Politics of Nonviolent Action, 3 Parts. Boston: Porter Sargent.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1979. Gandhi as a Political Strategist. Boston: Porter Sargent.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1980a. Social Power and Political Freedom. Boston: Extending Horizons Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1980b. Making the Abolition of War a Realistic Goal. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1985. Making Europe Unconquerable: The Potential of Civilian Based Deterrence and Defense. Cambridge: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1990a. The Role of Power in Nonviolent Struggle, Monograph Series. Vol. 3. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1990b. Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1992. Self-Reliant Defense Without Bankruptcy or War. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1994. From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. The Anti-Coup. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential. Boston: Porter Sargent.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010a. There Are Realistic Alternatives. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010b. Self-Liberation: A Guide to Strategic Planning to End a Dictatorship or Other Oppression. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. How Nonviolent Struggle Works. Boston: The Albert Einstein Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storr, V.H., L.E. Grube, and S. Haeffele-Balch. 2017. Polycentric Orders and Post-Disaster Recovery: A Case Study of One Orthodox Jewish Community Following Hurricane Sandy. Journal of Institutional Economics 13 (4): 875–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storr, V.H., S. Haeffele-Balch, and L.E. Grube. 2015. Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster: Lessons in Local Entrepreneurship. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. Social Capital and Social Learning After Hurricane Sandy. The Review of Austrian Economics 30 (4): 447–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, J., C. Butcher, and I. Svensson. 2014. Explaining Political Jiu-Jitsu: Institution-Building and the Outcomes of Regime Violence Against Unarmed Protests. Journal of Peace Research 51 (5): 559–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thoreau, H.D. 1963. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. London: Peace News Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1969. A Yankee in Canada: With Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers. Boston: Ticknor and Fields.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolstoy, L. 1885. What I Believe. London: Elliot Stock.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012. The Kingdom of God Is Within You. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tullock, G. 1971. The Paradox of Revolution. Public Choice 11 (1): 89–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E.A. 2016. People Power and the Problem of Sovereignty in International Law. Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 26 (551): 551–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wink, W. 2000. Peace Is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Ossining, NY: Orbis Books.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Joshua Ammons & Christopher J. Coyne

  2. F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Christopher J. Coyne

Authors
  1. Joshua Ammons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher J. Coyne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher J. Coyne .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Stefanie Haeffele

  2. F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Virgil Henry Storr

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Ammons, J., Coyne, C.J. (2020). Nonviolent Action. In: Haeffele, S., Storr, V. (eds) Bottom-up Responses to Crisis. Mercatus Studies in Political and Social Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39312-0_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39312-0_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39311-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39312-0

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation