Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution

Catalog description

How can everyday people promote justice, equality, and democracy? Throughout history, many have looked to armed struggle and revolutionary violence. But over the course of the last century, nonviolent "people power" movements- from Gandhi's salt march to the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter- have been forces for social and political change. What are the causes, strategies, tactics, dynamics, and consequences of nonviolent conflict, and how do these differ from violent or armed conflict? When and how do unarmed "people power" campaigns topple repressive authoritarian regimes? This course addresses these questions, and, in the process, engages contending theories of power, revolution, and insurgency. The course introduces students to key concepts, theories, strategies, and historical patterns of nonviolent conflict. The class probes the success and failure of nonviolence by analyzing landmark unarmed revolutions.