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What's New
ICNC Commemorates International Anti-Corruption Day
Since 2003, the United Nations Convention against Corruption has recognized December 9 as “International Anti-Corruption Day” as a reminder of the ongoing fight against practices that rob global citizens of nearly $4 trillion in government services, protections, goods and opportunities each year.
Corruption “afflicts dictatorships and democracies, the Global North and the Global South; it impedes development; it threatens peacebuilding,” writes Shaazka Beyerle in the opening chapter of Curtailing Corruption: People Power for Accountability and Justice. The book has been hailed for its scope—it provides details of anti-corruption campaigns in a dozen countries Beyerle studied—and its focus on the potency of organized, collective action.
In 2014, ICNC sat down with Shaazka Beyerle to discuss the plague of corruption and how “people power” has thwarted it. Now, on yet another International Anti-Corruption Day, we present that interview, which we believe viewers will find as timely and relevant now as five years ago.
Go here to read or download chapters from Curtailing Corruption in a variety of languages.
Read 'Curtailing Corruption' -
Apply for ICNC’s 2020 Participant-Led Online Course
ICNC is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for our 2020 Participant-Led Online Course: “Civil Resistance Struggles: How Ordinary People Win Rights, Freedom, and Justice.”
This course is unique because it is entirely driven by a carefully selected group of applicants from around the world interested in exploring unique content on civil resistance scholarship and practice set up by ICNC and who are ready to engage in lively interactions with their fellow learners.
Course Dates: February 13 – April 1, 2020
Apply Now! -
With civil resistance actions erupting all over the world, journalists are turning to ICNC for context and analysis about this global trend. ICNC has provided insight for the following print, TV, radio and online news articles this year:
– Aftenposten (Norway)
Access the stories
– BBC
– Bloomberg Businessweek
– Charged Affairs
– The Chautauquan Daily
– Democracy Digest
– Deutsche Welle (Chinese edition)
– Die Welt (Germany)
– El Pais (Spain)
– Globely News
– The Hill
– Honolulu Star-Advertiser
– Le Monde (France)
– Nouvel l’Obs (France)
– Red Line Agrinio (Greece)
– Trouw (Netherlands)
– Vice
– VOA News (Cambodia)
– Vox
– Washington Post
– Weekendavisen (Denmark)
– World Politics Review -
New Blog Post
Author Shaazka Beyerle writes: “2019 is being called the year of protest. Citizens across the globe are galvanizing, in large part over the nexus of corruption, inequality, and a sense that governments and political elites are unaccountable and unresponsive to their needs. “People are saying ‘pay attention to us, you are there to serve us,’” observed Nancy Lindborg, President of the United States Institute of Peace. This wave of people power shows that governments – whether they are democratic, semi-democratic, or authoritarian – are not immune to collective civic pressure…
Even when a corrupt leader or powerful figure is out of the picture, protesters understand that the rotten system remains. They also know from lived experience that corruption is linked to the wider problems they face – including unaccountable elites, poor public services, dismal educational and economic opportunities, scanty justice and human security, and violent conflict. Their struggles don’t fit the silos created by international actors. “Since I was my daughter’s age there have been the same rulers they are robbing the country – they are taking our rights,” said Lina, a Lebanese protester. “They give us promises and lies and we are still at the same place. […]”
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For Activists & Organizers
ICNC provides practical, 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. 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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New from ICNC Press
The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns by Ivan Marovic, is a practical guide for activists and organizers of all levels, who wish to grow their resistance activities into a more strategic, fixed-term campaign. It guides readers through the campaign planning process, breaking it down into several steps and providing tools and exercises for each step. Upon finishing the book, readers will have what they need to guide their peers through the process of planning a campaign. This process, as laid out in the guide, is estimated to take about 12 hours from start to finish.It is available for purchase or free download in English, Spanish, and Catalan.
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Visit our full resource library to find hundreds of resources on civil resistance in English and over 70 languages.
Or, if you are interested in civil resistance and don’t know where to start, we’ve made a list of general introductory resources–many of them short articles–to introduce you to the field. See our list of ten key resources for activists and organizers.
Visit the Resource Library -
ICNC Translations Program
Translating civil resistance literature into diverse languages is one of the most powerful ways to spread knowledge and increase the effectiveness of nonviolent movements struggling for rights, freedom, and justice. Learn more about our translations program.
We also currently host resources on civil resistance in over 70 languages and dialects on our website.
Find Translated Resources
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For Scholars & Students
The 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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Academic Online Curriculum
ICNC’s Academic Online Curriculum on Civil Resistance (AOC) is an online resource to advance curriculum development, teaching, and research on civil resistance. It offers an extensive and regularly updated set of resources in this field, organized into clearly structured topics and case studies, and drawn in part from content that we and various academic collaborators developed for the ICNC university seminars we’ve led since 2009.Anyone can register to use the AOC at any time and it is free to use.
Topics on the AOC include:
– Civil Resistance: Nature, Ideas and History
– Strategic Considerations in Civil Resistance Struggles
– Types of Civil Resistance StrugglesAnd more!
Register now! -
Calls from ICNC Academic Initiatives
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Throughout the year, ICNC is offering a number of academic opportunities, resources, and support that it makes available to scholars and students. The field of civil resistance has grown immensely and these academic programs aim to respond to the growing demand for knowledge and skills and contribute to expanding the quality of education, research, and curriculum related to civil resistance. This page has all of the current and past calls for the ICNC’s programs, such as learning opportunities, curriculum support, and research grants. -
New from ICNC Press:
Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance
by Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman
Available in: English and ArabicEvents of the last decade demand new approaches to atrocity prevention that are adaptable, innovative and independent of a state-centered doctrine. With the aim of reducing risk factors such as civil war, we argue for a new normative framework called The Right to Assist (RtoA)….
See ICNC Press Publications
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For the Policy Community
Civil 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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New From ICNC Press:
Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsbility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance
by Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman
Available in: English and ArabicEvents of the last decade demand new approaches to atrocity prevention that are adaptable, innovative and independent of a state-centered doctrine. With the aim of reducing risk factors such as civil war, we argue for a new normative framework called The Right to Assist (RtoA)….
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Powering to Peace: Integrated Civil Resistance and Peacebuilding Strategies
by Veronique Dudouet
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This report explores the complementary ideas and practices that civil resistance and peacebuilding approaches present, each from different points along the conflict transformation spectrum. Both strategies oppose violence in all its forms, and seek to pursue just peace by peaceful means. However, they take different approaches to conflict transformation, in particular how they analyze primary causes of violence and how they respond to conflict. Drawing on a number of case studies, this report aims to help practitioners and scholars understand how integrating these strategies can help establish a path for “powering to peace.” -
A Movement-centered Support Model: Consideration for Human Rights Funders and Organizations
ICNC President Hardy Merriman writes: “What makes civil resistance movements effective? If funders and human rights organizations can identify key factors that answer this question, then their efforts can be oriented towards trying to support the development and growth of those factors. […]”
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Minds of the Movement Blog
Minds 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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New Blog Post
Author Shaazka Beyerle writes: “2019 is being called the year of protest. Citizens across the globe are galvanizing, in large part over the nexus of corruption, inequality, and a sense that governments and political elites are unaccountable and unresponsive to their needs. “People are saying ‘pay attention to us, you are there to serve us,’” observed Nancy Lindborg, President of the United States Institute of Peace. This wave of people power shows that governments – whether they are democratic, semi-democratic, or authoritarian – are not immune to collective civic pressure […]”
Read now! -
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ICNC Fellow and civil society leader Phil Wilmot writes: “This year, the global spotlight was briefly placed upon Sudan during its overthrow of Omar al-Bashir, and to a lesser extent, Algeria’s popular resistance to Abdelaziz Bouteflika whose 20-year rule has met its end. Yet 2019 has yielded at least nine other African political uprisings from which we can learn. […]” -
ICNC President Hardy Merriman writes: “A wave of largely nonviolent uprisings in 2019 has led to a profusion of media articles on this topic, examining questions such as: Why are so many people protesting now? Is this part of a larger trend? Are common issues driving these uprisings? Where will these uprisings lead?Here are some thoughts. […]”
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