Historically, political change in countries that curtail freedom and ignore international human rights norms has been difficult to achieve. Violent revolution or the use of armed force by external actors is typically seen as the necessary means of overcoming oppression. Yet civil resistance, relying on a variety of methods of nonviolent action, has been used for this purpose for well over a century in different parts of the world, by different peoples and societies, in different cultures and political systems, and with impressive results as well as some apparent failures.

This phenomenon has only recently started gaining greater recognition as a potentially formidable strategic force by policy makers, political observers and scholars. Often this recognition has been spurred by the spectacle of dictatorships and undemocratic rulers succumbing, not to armed insurrections, but to the coercive nonviolent pressure of mass civic movements, as in countries such as the Philippines, Chile, Poland, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine or Egypt. The sweeping political ferment taking place in North Africa and the Middle East since the end of 2010 provides new, dramatic evidence of how civil resistance can drive political change. Furthermore, countries that experience bottom-up, civilian-based resistance are known to have a better track record of successful democratic transitions than the states that initiated their systemic transformation after a protracted civil war, or due to top-down, elite-to-elite negotiations or external military interventions.

Who should join the course?
Graduate students, junior faculty, researchers and professionals from universities and civil society organizations are encouraged to apply.