How does nonviolent action work?
A. Nonviolent action works by getting a population to withdraw its support and obedience from the opponents. By getting key groups to withdraw their consent, nonviolent action is able to remove the sources of power for a regime or opponent group. These sources of power are: 1. Authoritythe belief among the people that the regime or opponent is legitimate, and that they have a moral duty to obey it; 2. Human resourcesthe number and importance of the persons and groups that are obeying, cooperating, or providing assistance to the regime or opponent; 3. Skills and knowledgeneeded by the regime or opponent to perform specific actions and supplied by the cooperating persons and groups; 4. Intangible factorspsychological and ideological factors that may induce people to obey and assist the regime or opponent; 5. Material resourcesthe degree to which the rulers control or have access to property, natural resources, financial resources, the economic system, and means of communication and trans
Related Questions
- Does nonviolent action require a charismatic leader (like Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr.) in order to be effective?
- Does nonviolent action only work in a democratic system? Can it be used and succeed against dictatorships?
- What is nonviolent direct action and what role does this play in a CPT delegation?
