Choose nonviolence -- it works best
Nonviolence Is The Right Choice — It Works
Nonviolent resistance is not only the morally superior choice. It is also twice as effective as the violent variety.
That’s the startling and reassuring discovery by Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, who analyzed an astonishing 323 resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006.
“Our findings show that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns,” the authors note in the journal International Security. (The study is available as a PDF file at http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org)
The result is not that surprising, once you listen to the researchers’ reasoning.
“First, a campaign’s commitment to nonviolent methods enhances its domestic and international legitimacy and encourages more broad-based participation in the resistance, which translates into increased pressure being brought to bear on the target,” they state. “Second, whereas governments easily justify violent counterattacks against armed insurgents, regime violence against nonviolent movements is more likely to backfire against the regime.”
In an interesting aside that has relevance for our times, the authors also write that, “Our study does not explicitly compare terrorism to nonviolent resistance, but our argument sheds light on why terrorism has been so unsuccessful.”
To their credit, the authors don’t gloss over nonviolent campaigns that haven’t been successes. They give a clear-eyed assessment of the failure so far of the nonviolent movement in Burma, one of the three detailed case studies in the piece, along with East Timor and the Philippines.
In some sense, the authors have subjected to statistical analysis the notions of Gene Sharp, an influential Boston-based proponent of nonviolent change, someone they cite frequently in the footnotes. In his work, Sharp stresses the practical utility of nonviolence, de-emphasizing the moral aspects of it. He even asserts that for Gandhi, nonviolence was more of a pragmatic tool than a matter of principle, painting a picture that’s at variance with much of Gandhian scholarship. In an interview with me in 2006, Sharp declared that he derives his precepts from Gandhi himself.
Gandhi’s use of nonviolence “was pure pragmatism,” Sharp told me. “At the end of his life, he defends himself. He was accused of holding on to nonviolent means because of his religious belief. He says no. He says, I presented this as a political means of action, and that’s what I’m saying today. And it’s a misrepresentation to say that I presented this as a purely religious approach. He was very upset about that.”
One of the authors of the study, Maria Stephan, is at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. The group’s founders wrote a related book a few years ago, “A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict.” Erica Chenoweth is at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
This study is manna for those of us who believe in nonviolent resistance as a method of social change. We don’t have to justify it on moral grounds any more. The reason is even simpler now: Nonviolence is much more successful.
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Greenpeace is another example where nonviolence has worked and been sustained against tremendous temptations to change. The organization was one of the first multi-national non-profit organizations to figure out how to transform and keep nonviolence fresh in a modern media world. The organization is made up of a hugely diverse employee base which represents not only the spectrum of political ideas but also the spectrum of tactics. You have pacifists working next to environmentalists, and you have vegetarians working next to meat eaters. Some of the environmentalists are also pacifists while some would take a more confrontational path. Some of the pacifists are interested in saving the environment but many see ending war to be the most pressing issue. Mix into that women's issues, animal rights issues, minority issues, economic justice issues and one realizes quickly that there is as much disagreement within Greenpeace as their is agreement. Yet the organization has maintained a strict adherence to nonviolence -resisting both internal and external pressures - and the group has to be credited with remaking protest movements. Much of what follows Greenpeace looks completely different from the protest movements that proceeded them. business management degree | criminal justice degree | buy degree
Many people who reject nonviolence reject it because it is too much of a burden to try to treat people nicely in all aspects of your life. In the same way many people who reject vegetarianism reject it because of the universal prohibition against eating meat. You hear people all the time say "I am vegetarian at home but at work or when I travel I eat meat." Vegetarianism in all parts of their lives seems to be too much of a burden. In the same way, people who reject nonviolence in all aspects of their lives reject it because it places a huge burden on them. They might say "I'd never treat my dog that way" but then they turn around and treat somebody else that way. They may be nonviolent at home, or among their circle of friends, but to the larger population they still want to behave in ways that violate the the principles I outlined earlier. computer science degree | Corllins University
I think that more people should know the effects that drugs have on people and the planet. If someone is addicted to a drug they will do anything to get more of it. That is why more people should support drug rehab as it helps return these people back to a happy, healthy and productive life,
Nonviolence is more successful. I agree with that. There are a lot of nonviolence struggle that can be examples. One example of peaceful struggle with a brilliant fruition is the struggle of Mahatma Gandhi. My favorite character, who is, fighting for the independence of his people, by the way of peace. He did not call for his followers adopted the weapon, but instead took his followers to run the action 'without violence', which if not mistaken, its name 'Ahimsa'. From religious leaders, there is Jesus Christ, to teach love. In the end, a great religion, too. So, it is true nonviolence is the best way. How to Lose Weight
Some things I got from nonviolence Role of nonviolence for resolving the conflicts : Not only Gandhians but perhaps 90 to 95 per cent of the human beings want to live in a peaceful world. They are against violence. But some bad elements and some vested interests want to perpetuate violence. Peace lovers have a tough job. Yet one can not give up. We have to take some steps to counter the violence. Peace and non-violence in school curriculum : The older generation seems to be overwhelmed and helpless to face the challenge of violence. We should inculcate the values of peace and nonviolence in the children from school level by making these subjects part of curriculum. The media - especially the television provides too many programmes glorifying or justifying violence. There has to be some restriction of such programmes. For children spend too much time watching the T.V. restaurante madrid