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What's New
Read this Special Report
Preventing Mass Atrocities:
From a Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistanceby Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman
Free download | Purchase print copy
This groundbreaking new Special Report advances a doctrine called the “Right to Assist” (RtoA) that can facilitate international support to nonviolent civil resistance movements struggling for rights freedom, and justice around the world.
Drawing from extensive social science research as well as insights from practitioners, Ackerman and Merriman explain how support for nonviolent civil resistance can reduce the risk of atrocities and civil war and increase the prospects for long-term democratic stability. They offer significant detail on how the Right to Assist could be implemented by laying out a five-part typology of forms of international assistance, and considering external support from the perspectives of efficacy, international law, practical concerns, and possible unintended consequences.
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The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns
The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns is a practical guide for activists and organizers of all levels....
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The Activists’ Creed: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
As we mark today exactly two years since launching ICNC's blog, Minds of the Movement, blog co-editor Deborah Mathis invites readers to pause and reflect on ordinary people's agency to overcome oppression throughout history. She evokes this summer's 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans’ first landing in the United States, writing: "Colonial oppressors had their laws then, and modern despots have theirs today. They can ban the meetings, shut down Twitter, and burn the books. But the indomitable, immutable human spirit always finds a workaround..."
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Read an Chinese language translation of 'The Trifecta of Civil Resistance: Unity, Planning, Discipline'
Chinese translation of an article arguing that unity, planning, and nonviolent discipline stand as three critical attributes that determine [...]
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For Activists & Organizers
Learn MoreICNC provides practical and relevant information and educational opportunities about civil resistance to activists and organizers around the world.
Our view is that nonviolent struggle is a social science that can be studied and understood, and that practitioners can increase their chances of success by learning lessons from each other as well as from cutting edge academic scholarship on this topic.
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The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns
The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns is a practical guide for activists and organizers of all levels....
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ICNC Online Courses
ICNC focuses on how ordinary people wage nonviolent conflict to win rights, freedom and justice.
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ICNC Translations Program
Translating civil resistance literature into diverse languages is one of the most powerful ways to spread knowledge and increase the effectiveness ...
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For Scholars & Students
Learn MoreThe discipline of civil resistance has developed enormously in recent years, driven by new quantitative and qualitative scholarly research, as well as by numerous nonviolent movements around the world.
ICNC runs a number of grant-supported academic and educational programs to meet the growing demand for cutting edge research, applied knowledge and practical skills in this field. Look at our research, writing, teaching and other educational offerings and review current calls for proposals or applications.
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ICNC Online Courses
ICNC offers a wealth of opportunities for online learning about civil resistance. This includes fully moderated and participant-led online courses ...
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Calls from ICNC Academic Initiatives
ICNC focuses on how ordinary people wage nonviolent conflict to win rights, freedom and justice.
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ICNC Press and Publications
New from ICNC Press: A book on the relationship between communications and nonviolent resistance captures a new understanding of the events that [...]
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For the Policy Community
Learn MoreCivil resistance movements have a proven role in advancing human rights, democratic governance, and curtailing corruption. They are a critical factor in addressing root causes of human suffering and reducing deadly violence in the world.
It is incumbent for members of the policy community who care about these issues to understand how movements work; their historic record of making change; and when, how, and under what circumstances external actors can take actions that are helpful to movements.
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Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance
Events of the last decade demand new approaches to atrocity prevention that are adaptable, innovative and independent of a state-centered doctrine...
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Powering to Peace: Integrated Civil Resistance and Peacebuilding Strategies
This report explores the complementary ideas and practices that civil resistance and peacebuilding approaches present, each from different points ...
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Nonviolent Conflict News
NVCNews.org provides a window into in-depth analysis of civil resistance movements, their dynamics, and the full range of nonviolent tactics [...]
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Minds of the Movement Blog
Learn MoreMinds of the Movement is a blog for those interested in the ideas and experiences of people on the front line of civil resistance, and those who seek to understand the art and science of nonviolent struggle.
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The Activists’ Creed: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
As we mark today exactly two years since launching ICNC's blog, Minds of the Movement, blog co-editor Deborah Mathis invites readers to pause and reflect on ordinary people's agency to overcome oppression throughout history. She evokes this summer's 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans’ first landing in the United States, writing: "Colonial oppressors had their laws then, and modern despots have theirs today. They can ban the meetings, shut down Twitter, and burn the books. But the indomitable, immutable human spirit always finds a workaround..."
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Three Ways Faith and Spiritual Leaders are Shaping Movements Today
On our blog, Minds of the Movement, Carinne Luck writes: "The spiritual leaders and healing practitioners offering rituals, new support roles, and new pathways of connection for activists are integral to the success of civil resistance in the United States today. Through their care, strategic and sustainable movements that attend both to the individual and the group are becoming more possible. Through their example, activists are seeing how spiritual investigation and practice can temper ego and reduce the tendency towards heroism or martyrdom. By illuminating shared ancestral lines, they are creating openings for collaboration rather than competition..."
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“Fake News”: A New Weapon against Dissidents in Southeast Asia
In response to dwindling public trust in their officials and institutions, authoritarian governments in many Southeast Asian countries are exploiting “fake news” as a political tool against their critics. This growing trend can be understood as systematic attempts to undermine the men, women, and organizations behind these dissenting opinions
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Governments, for example in Singapore and the Philippines, are dismissing as fake news many critical opinions, research findings, and news content that are not in line with the government stance. This growing trend can be understood as systematic attempts to curb freedom of expression and undermine the men, women, and organizations behind these dissenting opinions.[...]
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