Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: What Nonviolence Is and What It Is Not
Chapter 2: Religious and Ethical Positions on Violence and Nonviolence
Chapter 3: The Strategy of Nonviolent Resistance
Chapter 4: Types of Nonviolent Action
Chapter 5: Dynamics of Nonviolent Struggles
Chapter 6: Outcomes and Consequences of Nonviolent Struggles
Chapter 7: Armed Forces, Defections, and Nonviolent Change
Chapter 8: The Global Diffusion of Nonviolence
Chapter 9: Future Directions in Civil Resistance Research
Appendix: Discussion Questions
Endnotes
Glossary of Terms
References

About the Author

Sharon Erickson Nepstad is Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of numerous articles and three books, including: Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century (2011, Oxford University Press); Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement (2008, Cambridge University Press); and Convictions of the Soul: Religion, Culture, and Agency in the Central American
Solidarity Movement (2004, Oxford University Press).

Reviews

"It is not an easy task to capture a moving target, but Nepstad has successfully done so, having effectively woven the different threads of this emerging field together. Nonviolent Struggle provides a comprehensive overview of this still under-researched phenomenon and in that sense is clearly one of the foundational academic works... Nonviolent Struggle is a must-read for scholars, students, practitioners and anyone with a general interest in conflict
transformation, peace studies, social change and social movements." -- Siddharth Tripathi, Democratization
"After languishing for years as a small and somewhat ghettoized area of research, the study of non-violent contention has blossomed in the last decade into one of the liveliest subfields within the broader study of contentious politics. And yet, to date, there has been no single text that surveys and summarizes the mushrooming work in this important area. There is now. Even better, that volume has been authored by, Sharon Nepstad, one of the key figures
contributing to the scholarly renaissance in the field. Must reading for anyone who hopes to understand the dynamics of this especially significant form of contentious politics."
--Doug McAdam, Stanford University and co-author of Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Post-War America
"In her latest book, Sharon Erickson Nepstad provides a sweeping and thoughtful survey of nonviolent resistance-from philosophical roots to historical and contemporary applications, and from theoretical foundations to unanswered empirical questions that remain. This book will certainly be an invaluable resource for students and researchers of nonviolent struggle for years to come."
--Erica Chenoweth, University of Denver
"This is a long-overdue and badly-needed book for this rapidly expanding subfield. For nearly twenty years I've taught an upper-division undergraduate seminar on nonviolence and this is just the kind of text I've been looking for but have yet been able to find."
--Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco
"Sociologist Nepstad (New Mexico) intended her book as a primer on the variety of forms and strategic choices facing those who are interested in resistance to authority as part of achieving social justice. This makes it highly useful as a textbook for courses in human rights, peace studies, or social movements. But it it also a strong introduction to the theories about, history of, and research on, nonviolence for researchers whose work has bordered on but not
included this."
--M.M. Ferree, University of Wisconsin-Madison, lCHOICE
"The book provides a clear summary of research on nonviolent
struggle and a good introduction to nonviolence and nonviolent action for
undergraduates in courses on social movements and peace and conflict." --Kurt Schock, Rutgers University Newark, American Journal of Sociology