Between Mao and Gandhi - The Social Roots of Civil Resistance

Asks why some dissident movements adopt nonviolent strategies of resistance, while others choose to take up arms.

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.

Foreword

Asks why some dissident movements adopt nonviolent strategies of resistance, while others choose to take up arms.

Product details

• Authors: Ches Thurber, Ches (Northern Illinois University) Thurber
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2023
• EAN: 9781108927840
• ISBN: 978-1-108-92784-0
• No. of pages: 281
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Sociology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Advocacy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Comparative Politics, Political activism, Comparative Politics, Political activism / Political engagement