Nonviolence Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Nonviolence is both a moral principle and a pragmatic means of achieving social and political transformation. Nonviolence and pacifism are often considered synonymous ideas, but in fact they are conceptually and politically distinct. The preeminent scholar of nonviolent action is Gene Sharp, who identified the strategic principles and tactical methods through which nonviolent resistance can undermine oppressive systems of political power. Sharp defined the categories of nonviolent action as protest and persuasion, mass noncooperation (in economic, social, and political spheres), and nonviolent intervention. Commonly used forms of noncooperation and intervention include boycotts, strikes, illegal marches, blockades, and sit-ins.

Mohandas Gandhi, leader of India’s nationalist movement, pioneered the method of mass nonviolent action, satyagraha, as a tool for resisting oppression and injustice and a means of applying pressure for political change. Most who participate in nonviolent action campaigns are not pacifists. They support nonviolent resistance in the manner of Jawaharlal Nehru, an acolyte of Gandhi, who wrote in his 1941 autobiography, Toward Freedom, “We accepted that method . . . not only as the right method but as the most effective one for our purpose” (80).

Gandhian nonviolence goes far beyond mere civil disobedience. It is a method of seeking and upholding truth through the application of social pressure and the interaction of contending forces. It follows a set pattern of action that includes the documentation of grievances, dialogue and negotiation with the adversary, the dramatization of injustices, disciplined training for followers, and the resort to nonviolent collective action.

The civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers famously applied Gandhian methods to advance civil rights for African Americans in the United States. Other examples of successful nonviolent transformation include the “people power” movement of the Philippines in 1986, the “velvet revolutions” in central and eastern Europe in the late 1980s, the flowering of democracy in Chile and other Latin American countries during the 1980s and 1990s, the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia in 2000, the so-called orange revolution in Ukraine in 2004, and the April 2006 overthrow of the monarchy in Nepal. Failures of this strategy for change also can be cited—the Tiananmen Square massacre of prodemocracy demonstrators in Beijing, China, in 1989; the isolation and collapse of nonviolent resistance in the Kosovo region of Serbia in the 1990s; and the as yet unsuccessful struggle for democracy in Burma—but the overall record of strategic success of nonviolence is impressive. Nonviolent resistance has been described by Ackerman and DuVall (2000) as “a force more powerful.” The alternative to armed violence is not surrender or appeasement, but the fight for justice through nonviolent means. It is a third way, distinct from armed conflict and inaction, for addressing injustice.

Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth (2008) confirmed the advantages of nonviolent action in a major empirical study examining 323 historical cases of resistance campaigns over a span of more than 100 years. The cases involved sociopolitical movements, sometimes lasting several years, that contended against governments to gain specific political concessions. The study showed that nonviolent means were twice as effective as violent means, achieving success 53 percent of the time, compared to a 26 percent success rate when violence was employed. Moreover, nonviolent action is also more likely to expand political freedom and democracy. An empirical study by Adrian Karatnycky and Peter Ackerman (2005) at Freedom House examined sixty-seven late twentieth-century political transformations and found that nonviolent revolutions were three times more likely than armed struggles to create conditions of increased political freedom.

The key strategic advantage of nonviolent action is the ability of disciplined unarmed movements to withstand government repression. Unjustified brutality against nonviolent action tends to backfire and generate public sympathy and support for the resisters. The repression of nonviolent movements by political authorities can create an atmosphere of disaffection among regime supporters and generate shifts in loyalty that make it easier for nonviolent campaigns to gain political concessions. Sharp emphasized the importance of winning the loyalties of third parties as the key to eroding the power base of corrupt and repressive political regimes. The presence of an audience is crucial to the workings of this third-party effect. Effective public relations and the careful crafting of media messages are therefore crucial to the success of nonviolent action.

The nonviolent method, Gandhi and King emphasized, is a strategy best employed by the strong, not the weak. To challenge injustice and stand unarmed against oppressors requires courage, endurance, fearlessness, and a willingness to sacrifice. It also requires well-coordinated effort. Such traits are necessary to mobilize mass action and are keys to the moral and political effectiveness of the nonviolent action method.

Bibliography:

Ackerman, Peter, and Jack DuVall. A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Cortright, David. Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for a New Political Age. 2nd ed. Boulder: Paradigm, 2009.
Karatnycky, Adrian, and Peter Ackerman. “How Freedom Is Won: From Civic Resistance to Durable Democracy.” International Journal of Not-forProfit Law 7, no. 3 (June 2005): 47–59.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail.” In A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James M.Washington, 289–302. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.
Nehru, Jawaharlal. Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru. New York: John Day, 1941.
Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973.
Stephan, Maria J., and Erica Chenoweth. “Why Civil Resistance Works.” International Security 33, no. 1 (Summer 2008): 7–44.

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