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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by WeUnite@lemm.ee to c/til@lemmy.world

Erica Chenoweth initially thought that only violent protests were effective. However after analyzing 323 movements the results were opposite of what Erica thought:

For the next two years, Chenoweth and Stephan collected data on all violent and nonviolent campaigns from 1900 to 2006 that resulted in the overthrow of a government or in territorial liberation. They created a data set of 323 mass actions. Chenoweth analyzed nearly 160 variables related to success criteria, participant categories, state capacity, and more. The results turned her earlier paradigm on its head — in the aggregate, nonviolent civil resistance was far more effective in producing change.

If campaigns allow their repression to throw the movement into total disarray or they use it as a pretext to militarize their campaign, then they’re essentially co-signing what the regime wants — for the resisters to play on its own playing field. And they’re probably going to get totally crushed.

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[-] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

If nonviolence gets you want you want, you don't resort to violence in the first place. Did the author account for this and consider whether resistance categorized as violent began as nonviolent?

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

Every US protest which involved violence that I have looked into except one started peaceful and only became violent because of police starting the violence, provoking protestors to defend themselves by forcing them into dangerous situations, or police overreacting to instigators and agitators.

The only one where the protestors were the ones who instigated violence that I have come across was the Jan 6th insurrection. There could be more, but that is the only one I have found.

Of course civil resistance that doesn't end up with violence will be more successful. It is a lot harder to demonize protestors who didn't have to defend their lives when you can't pretend they were the violent ones.

[-] Bgugi@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago
[-] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

The survivorship bias is highlighted in the summary:

all violent and nonviolent campaigns from 1900 to 2006 that resulted in the overthrow

Meaning all unsuccessful campaigns were not considered.

[-] frezik@midwest.social 23 points 1 week ago

The conclusions are more nuanced than the headlines. Her data shows that violent and non-violent methods often work in tandem. It tends to be different factions of the same movement using different methods, and they tend not to like each other. The more violent faction says the peaceful faction is naive, while the peaceful faction finds violent methods unconscionable.

More people will tend to join the peaceful faction, perhaps because it's easier to join the side that isn't asking morally gray things of them. However, the violent side plays a more direct role in undermining the system of oppression.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 week ago

Her data shows that violent and non-violent methods often work in tandem

Does it? I read the whole interview in the OP post and it does not seem like this would be the opinion of the researcher:

The finding is that civil resistance campaigns often lead to longer-term reforms and changes that bring about democratization compared with violent campaigns. Countries in which there were nonviolent campaigns were about 10 times likelier to transition to democracies within a five-year period compared to countries in which there were violent campaigns — whether the campaigns succeeded or failed. This is because even though they “failed” in the short term, the nonviolent campaigns tended to empower moderates or reformers within the ruling elites who gradually began to initiate changes and liberalize the polity.

How do you justify the claim that her data shows the usefulness of violent civil resistance campaigns?

[-] Crankenstein@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

This is about what I expected of a study like this.

[-] einkorn@feddit.org 6 points 1 week ago
[-] Crankenstein@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Pretty much what all anarchist theory has been proposing, at least when it comes to revolutionary action.

[-] DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I suppose that's more sabotage than actual violence.

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

So.... Saw Gerrera versus the Rebel Alliance.

[-] Squizzy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

The rebels were just better functioning and more democratic. Saw was an idealistic lunatic. The rebels were idealistic prgamatists, mostly.

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[-] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 week ago

I would ask her to correlate them with existence of violent movements alongside.

The MLK-Malcolm X dichotomy

In short, the presence of a militant option alongside your nonviolent option is quite useful in compelling the opposition to your side because the other option is the militant one.

And in that case, i would credit the violent movement with the success, and the "nonviolent" movement with giving them an ego saving out.

As a test: I would like to ask this researcher, peacefully, to cut the lib shit.

[-] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

No one's ever gotten rid of their oppressors by asking nicely.

[-] match@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago

no but sometimes by blockading streets. America's understanding of nonviolence is poisoned

[-] Wazowski@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

That’s cool n shit, but I’m for hanging tyrants by the balls.

[-] Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago

Laughable methodology, painfully transparent motive. This is propaganda.

[-] tehn00bi@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

What about this kind of protest?

[-] DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

He isn't hurting anyone but himself.

[-] SobelOperator@reddthat.com 7 points 1 week ago

Are the two even comparable in terms of motivation? Violent resistance often stem from the motivation to bring replacement of the current system rather than reform. Often ending up as "resistance" because they lack logistics and resources.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 5 points 1 week ago

Its kind of pithy but like we still live in a capitalist hellscape, so have any resistances really been successful?

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[-] FreakinSteve@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

They produce change but only incremental, impotent change that just temporarily assuages the protestor back into submission while fueling a false sense of accomplishment.

Its gonna happen again in the US and they will vote in more neoliberal shills while thinking they've won.

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[-] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

...all violent and nonviolent campaigns from 1900 to 2006 that resulted in the overthrow of a government or in territorial liberation. They created a data set of 323 mass actions.

323, in over 100 years. And they are exuding campaigns that did not work? I would assume there have been 10s of thousands of protests in that time that where non-violent and also ineffective. Why are they not included? What would make a campaign go from non-violent to violent? What constitutes a campaign, is it non-violent in whole or only part? I would check but I need to buy their book.

I can not even think of any movement that resulted in territorial or government change that did not involve some form of violence. This study does not seem to pass the sniff test.

[-] cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

Yeah honestly, if you're only looking at the campaigns that led to overthrow of the government or territorial liberation then it should be somewhat self evident that nonviolent campaigns have better outcomes. They lead to less death and less destruction of infrastructure which is desirable for whatever comes next. Unfortunately, that's not always an option for people seeking liberation.

Oh. Yeah, totally. Successful violent campaign or successful nonviolent campaign, ill take the nonviolent every time.

The problem is...

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[-] SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'm trying to find the data around the "data set of 323 mass actions. Chenoweth analyzed nearly 160 variables" and am not finding it. Closest I find is the excerpt from their book here https://muse.jhu.edu/article/760088 which tells a rather mixed story.

I understand this was posted within the context of ongoing events in LA. Of note in the research being shared here is the goal of "overthrow of a government or in territorial liberation" which I think is a very different scope. However, I would encourage reading their latest peer reviewed paper here which I believe does a better job of scoping the LA protests.

Of note is that it addresses the consistent conflating of "violent armed overthrow of the state" with "throwing rocks after getting shot at".

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

The insane knuckledraggers currently in charge do not understand the concept of "peace".

[-] Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Good thing unions peacefully protested for a 5 day work week and 8 hour days

[-] Eldritch@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Sometimes violence can be necessary to start. But anything won or held by violence will also be lost by violence. Only that which is held through peace and understanding will ever be secure.

[-] 1D10@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Every country in the world was started with violence and has been held with the threat of violence, your statement is a pretty nothing.

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[-] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Sure, when reality is sane. Not with Shitler at the helm.

Burn them all

[-] mountainbear49@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Utter bullshit methodology. Reference: Benjamin Case, "Street Rebellions" (2022). Goes through the entire dataset of Chenoweth tangle of garbage. Case shows that every case of 'civil resistance' involved 'non-violence' of the order of UNARMED riots with punches, rocks, and fires were involved. So indeed, civil resistance with non-violent marches, barricades, punches, rocks, and fires have contributed social progress change of decomposing mass-murder militarists governments. Slinging such desctructive false claims is likely to be effective at de-mobilizing people confused about acceptability of burning down unoccupied parts of a genocide and pollution funding bank and military station (cop station), for example, and to have very serious consequences against authors of that sort of garbage. Another problem about Chenoweth's methodology: they pretend intention of protesters of replacing a military hierarchist, heritage-based, fiction-book-based, racist pigs regime (asristocratic, 'demo'-oligarchic, duopolist) with another regime of the same type of garbage with another shuffle of names and addresses. Even a cursory review of literature and interviews with real protesters has shown a lot of demand for flat local networks run by local competent persons, usually referred to under contested name space of words like anarchism, direct democracy, co-operative societies, etc.

[-] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

I kind of wonder what Chenoweth, a they/them in a LGBTQ relationship, thinks about Stonewall?

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The fourth element is especially important now. Don't engage on the playing field Trump set up on what is plain to see is a setup to authorize martial law powers for himself.

But it also means don't let government drive the conversation in media either. Keep standing up and keep the message clear that this is a stand against tyranny and let Trump and his admin flail, grasp at straws and reach for the Project2025 book of excuses. They look weak and unconvincing against the resolve of the peaceful resistance movement.

Based on the cases you have studied, what are the key elements necessary for a successful nonviolent campaign?

CHENOWETH: I think it really boils down to four different things. The first is a large and diverse participation that’s sustained.

The second thing is that [the movement] needs to elicit loyalty shifts among security forces in particular, but also other elites. Security forces are important because they ultimately are the agents of repression, and their actions largely decide how violent the confrontation with — and reaction to — the nonviolent campaign is going to be in the end. But there are other security elites, economic and business elites, state media. There are lots of different pillars that support the status quo, and if they can be disrupted or coerced into noncooperation, then that’s a decisive factor.

The third thing is that the campaigns need to be able to have more than just protests; there needs to be a lot of variation in the methods they use.

The fourth thing is that when campaigns are repressed — which is basically inevitable for those calling for major changes — they don’t either descend into chaos or opt for using violence themselves. If campaigns allow their repression to throw the movement into total disarray or they use it as a pretext to militarize their campaign, then they’re essentially co-signing what the regime wants — for the resisters to play on its own playing field. And they’re probably going to get totally crushed.

[-] match@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago

Okay but also the second element is huge and we're not doing that yet

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Look at all the criticism from Lemmings and Redditors when an upper class member is trying to side with the movement by spending their money in print media to get the "No Kings" message out. That appears to be in a step in line with that second point but some that support the cause are in opposition to these actions.

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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
71 points (86.6% liked)

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