Stellan Vinthagen

A Theory of Nonviolent Action (eBook, PDF)

How Civil Resistance Works

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

In this ground-breaking and much-needed book, Stellan Vinthagen provides the first major systematic attempt to develop a theory of nonviolent action since Gene Sharp's seminal The Politics of Nonviolent Action in 1973.

Employing a rich collection of historical and contemporary social movements from various parts of the world as examples - from the civil rights movement in America to anti-Apartheid protestors in South Africa to Gandhi and his followers in India - and addressing core theoretical issues concerning nonviolent action in an innovative, penetrating way, Vinthagen argues for a repertoire of nonviolence that combines resistance and construction. Contrary to earlier research, this repertoire - consisting of dialogue facilitation, normative regulation, power breaking and utopian enactment - is shown to be both multidimensional and contradictory, creating difficult contradictions within nonviolence, while simultaneously providing its creative and transformative force.

An important contribution in the field, A Theory of Nonviolent Action is essential for anyone involved with nonviolent action who wants to think about what they are doing.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 408
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. November 2015
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781780320557
• Artikelnr.: 44186632

Autorenporträt

Stellan Vinthagen is Associate Professor in Sociology and Senior Lecturer in Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is also a Council Member of War Resisters International, academic advisor to the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), and co-founder of the Resistance Studies Network (www.resistancestudies.org). He has since 1980 been an educator, organizer and activist, and has participated in more than 30 nonviolent civil disobedience actions, for which he has served in total more than one year in prison.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction: the practice of nonviolent action 1. Nonviolent action
studies 2. The concept of nonviolence 3. The rationality of nonviolent
action 4. Nonviolent 'dialogue facilitation' 5. Nonviolent 'power breaking'
6. Nonviolent 'utopian enactment' 7. Nonviolent 'normative regulation' 8. A
theory of nonviolent action Appendix: the philosophy of Gandhi