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List of contents
1. Pathways to revolution; 2. Social ties and civil resistance; 3. Nepal's Gandhians take arms; 4. Nepal's Maoists take to the streets; 5. Syria in the Arab spring; 6. Resisting colonial rule in the Syrian mandate; 7. Barriers to civil resistance: a global analysis; 8. Gandhi revisited: overcoming barriers to civil resistance in South Africa and India; 9. Conclusion; Appendix: notes on field research in Nepal; References; Index.
About the author
Ches Thurber is an assistant professor of political science at Northern Illinois University. His research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Global Security Studies, Conflict Management and Peace Science, and Small Wars and Insurgencies.
Summary
Civil resistance campaigns have proven capable of toppling regimes and bringing about revolutionary political change. But how do dissidents come to embrace a nonviolent strategy in the first place? Thurber examines the social underpinnings of challenger movements to understand how they perceive, evaluate, and decide upon strategies of resistance.
Additional text
'In Between Gandhi and Mao, Thurber takes on a critical question: if nonviolent resistance is more effective, why do many groups still choose armed warfare? Through careful analysis of revolutionary struggles in Nepal, Syria, and Indonesia, he reveals that movements can only successfully implement nonviolent strategies when there are sufficient social ties among various sectors of the population and the regime. Thurber's book is theoretically sophisticated, empirically rich, beautifully written, and sheds important light on revolutionaries' strategic decision-making processes. It marks an important advance by bridging the study of civil war and civil resistance.' Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Chair and Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of New Mexico, and author of Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies, and Dynamics
