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The North Korean regime is notorious for exercising total authoritarian control over its citizens. But those who study nonviolent resistance movements know that no government can possibly have absolute control over a country. North Korea, despite what people generally think about the “hermetic kingdom,” is no different. There have been known instances of violent actions against the regime in the long history of Kim’s dynasty. Failed coup attempts, a bloody prison camp riot, and small-scale attacks on local authorities are few but notable examples.

In North Korea, there is no space for overt, traditional forms of civil resistance, such as marches, demonstrations, or strikes. However, in order to survive North Koreans have engaged in autonomous activities that have evolved into broader actions of defiance. This webinar will review some of the domestic developments that North Korea has experienced over the past two decades that shed more light on the evolution of the autonomous space in the country, augmented by its citizens’ actions in different spheres of life. These actions do not necessarily challenge the regime directly but in many aspects they defy its seemingly total, unshakable control over people’s affairs. Finally, we will explore the potential that these subtle acts of defiance, dissent, and subversion have for the future of civil resistance in one of the most closed societies in the world today.

Presenter

Jieun Baek is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Policy at the University of Oxford.

Previously, she was a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University where she wrote North Korea’s Hidden Revolution: How the Information Underground is Transforming a Closed Society. Her book will be published by Yale University Press in November 2016.

Baek worked at Google, where, among other roles, she served as Google Ideas’ North Korea expert. Baek received her bachelor’s degree in Government and master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard. Visit her online at www.JieunBaek.com.

Civil Resistance against Democratically Elected Governments

August 30, 2016 by Julia Constantine

This Academic Webinar took place on on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 12 p.m. EST

This webinar was presented by Stephen Zunes

Watch the webinar below:

Webinar content:

1. Introduction of the Speaker: 00:00- 00:59
2. Presentation: 00:59 – 31:24
3. Questions and Answers: 31:24– 52:38

Webinar Summary:

Due to the remarkable successes of civil resistance in legitimate pro-democracy struggles against autocratic governments, increasing numbers of political parties/coalitions in polarized societies are using many of its tactics to attempt to oust democratically elected governments which have fallen into disfavor with a significant portion of the population. On average, such movements have differed from more traditional anti-authoritarian civil insurrections in that they generally had a smaller base of support, were more prone to violence, were more dependent on elite allies (i.e., the military, the monarchy, corrupt judiciary, business interests, foreign powers), were less likely to have democratic goals, were less likely to succeed, and were less likely to resolve the underlying conflicts within the society. Nevertheless, a number of such uprisings have been successful, such as those in Ukraine, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Egypt. The webinar will examine several examples of such insurrections, including the similarities and differences between them as well as address the questions such as: At what point might, due to severe repression or massive corruption, a government lose its right to rule, even if it was democratically elected? What if it simply loses majority support and impatient oppositionists don’t want to wait until the next election cycle? What if the resistance includes powerful and influential anti-democratic elements and other vested interests interested in political control than the common good?

Presenter

Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as coordinator of the program in Middle Eastern Studies.

He serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus project of the Institute for Policy Studies, an associate editor of Peace Review, a contributing editor of Tikkun, and a member of the academic advisory council for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

He is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, strategic nonviolent action, and human rights.

He is the principal editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell Publishers, 1999), the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2003) and co-author (with Jacob Mundy) of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University Press, 2010.)

Novel Civic Activism in Armenia: Its Nature, Challenges, Impact and Prospects

August 30, 2016 by Julia Constantine

This Academic Webinar took place on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 12 p.m. EST

This webinar was presented by Valentina Gevorgyan

Watch the webinar below:

Webinar Content:

1. Introduction of the Speaker: 00:00- 01:24
2. Presentation: 01:24 – 36:35
3. Questions and Answers: 36:35 – 54:58

Webinar Summary:

The civic activism against the semi-authoritarian regime in Armenia has by now become a very important and visible element of civic and political life. This new wave of creative activism is expressed through largely nonviolent civic campaigns. These are youth-driven, single-purposed, sometimes spontaneously executed but also organized actions that rely on skillful use of social media and challenging specific government decisions. Usually the campaigns are small, but they can be viewed as emergent movements. Based on case studies of four civic activist campaigns, namely Save Teghut, Preserve Afrikyan Club Building, Dem Em (“I Am Against”) and Electric Yerevan — the webinar will reflect on the role of independent civic activism in Armenia, describe civic groups at the forefront, and analyze organized civic actions and methods used. The talk will address the origin and reasons for the campaigns, their challenges and impact so far, lessons learnt as well as prospects for future activism. The presentation will also reflect on both cooperation and tensions between formal civic organizations and informal civic groups and networks in the country.

Presenter

Valentina Gevorgyan is a researcher and writer with experience in research and policy analysis in contemporary social and political fields concerning Armenia. Her academic interests are in the spheres of society – state relations (with a particular focus on public participation in decision making processes), EU – Armenia relations, democratisation processes of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries and transatlantic relations.

Ms. Gevorgyan has served as a Senior Researcher of a four-year project (2012-2016) on Armenian civil society supported by the University of Fribourg. She has also served as a national expert for a study on public administration reform in the EaP countries supported by the European Commission.

Ms. Gevorgyan holds MA degree in Political Science from the American University of Armenia (AUA), and is an Open Society Foundations Policy Research Initiative Fellow. Ms. Gevorgyan has published and co-authored articles and reports on civil society, volunteering, and security. She has presented at a number of academic conferences in the region of the South Caucasus and Europe. Currently she works as a Research Associate at the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at AUA.

Successes and Challenges of Nonviolent Actions in Thailand

August 30, 2016 by Julia Constantine

Hunger Games’ Sign of Resistance in Thailand. Credit: TIME

This Academic Webinar took place on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 12 p.m. EST

This webinar was presented by Janjira Sombatpoonsiri

Watch the webinar below:

Webinar content:

1. Introduction of the Speaker: 00:00- 00:58
2. Presentation: 00:59 – 51:52
3. Questions and Answers: 51:53 – 1:02:57

Webinar Summary

Reading George Orwell, 1984 in Thailand. Credit: Bangkok Post

Subsequent to the 1992 ‘people power’ that overthrew the long rule of military government, Thailand has gone through a political rollercoaster. The growing democratic space enabled new political actors to emerge, while a liberalized economy empowered the country’s rural poor to move up the social ladder. The traditional ruling class have regarded these nascent forces as a threat to their status quo and privilege. The struggle between the two color-coded camps – Red and Yellow Shirts – was set in motion since 2005, culminating in the latest coup in 2014. In this talk, I will demonstrate an episode of civil resistance that aims to de-legitimize the incumbent military junta. Janjira 1Groups of students, activists and ordinary citizens have courageously staged symbolic protests and organized public meetings, despite the imposed draconian laws and continuous crackdown. I argue that these attempts have born some degree of successes in challenging the junta’s authority. However, they face critical challenges caused by the junta’s learning curb and existing social division. The Thai case serves as a reminder to rethink a strategy of civil resistance that can effectively challenge military dictatorship in the 21st century.

Presenter

Janjira Sombatpoonsiri is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University in Bangkok.

She is the author of the Ph.D. thesis-turned book Humor and Nonviolent Struggle in Serbia (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2015).

Her latest journal articles and book chapters include “Playful subversion: Red Sunday’s Nonviolent Activism in Thailand’s Post-2010 Crackdown,” Journal of Peace & Policy Vol. 20 (2015); “Nonviolent action as the interplay between political contexts and ‘insider’s knowledge’: exploring Otpor’s preference for humorous protest across Serbian towns,” in Civil Resistance: Process and Practice, ed. Kurt Schock (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2015), 59-92; and “Securitization of civil resistance: the Thai junta and beyond,” Journal of Resistance Studies, vol. 1, no. 2 (2015): 85-126.

In addition, she has written op-ed articles for a Thai newspaper, focusing the politics of nonviolent struggle. She currently serves as the co-Secretary General of Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA).

Civilian Strategies in Gold Mining Conflicts in Peru: From Violence to Disciplined Nonviolent Resistance

August 30, 2016 by Julia Constantine

5,000 people marched in Lima to reject extractive politics during the IMF and World Bank’s annual governor’s meeting in November 2015.

This Webinar took place on Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 12 p.m. EST.

This webinar was presented by Michael Wilson Becerril

Watch the webinar below:

Webinar content:

1. Introduction of the Speaker: 00:00- 02:09
2. Presentation: 02:10 – 32:24
3. Questions and Answers: 32:25 – 53:53

Webinar Summary

Barrick’s ‘Lagunas Norte’ gold mine peeks through the mountains, across the lakes to which the mine company wants to expand

Research shows that nonviolent means of waging a conflict are not only morally but strategically more effective than violence. Still, not much is known about when movements respond to violent repression with violence or when they will choose nonviolent resistance instead. This webinar presentation will shed light on some of the reasons why groups might transform their tactics from impromptu riots and violent responses to disciplined and strictly nonviolent means of struggle. Ethnographic evidence from four cases of gold mining conflicts in Peru will help us illustrate how, in response to an adversary’s discourse that branded resisters as criminals and terrorists, activists planned, strategized and trained in self-restraint, adopted nonviolent frames and tactics, and disciplined their public actions.

Past ICNC webinars. Please visit the ICNC Webinar Digest to hear all ICNC webinars delivered between 2010-2016 in an easily accessible format.

Presenter

Michael S. Wilson Becerril is a Mexico City native and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he focuses on peace and conflict in Latin America. He is also a Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs and a Ph.D. Fellow with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. As an undergraduate, Wilson was a co-host of a news radio show, Student Body President, and News Editor of the campus newspaper.

He is currently living in Peru and conducting fieldwork for his dissertation. His research centers on extractive industry behavior, political violence, civil resistance, and the politics of media. His work has been published in Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, COHA’s Washington Report on the Hemisphere, the North American Congress on Latin America’s Report on the Americas, Waging Nonviolence, Human Rights Review, AlterNet, Tikkun, Counterpunch, and others. He can be followed on Twitter: @guidolions.

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