Hardy Merriman is President of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), and previously served as ICNC’s President & CEO from January 2015 until June 2021.
Mr. Merriman is currently leading the Civil Resistance Funders Initiative at ICNC and is also a Principal Investigator for the Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave project, a joint effort with the Atlantic Council, at which he is a Nonresident Senior Fellow.
He has worked in the field of civil resistance for 20 years, presenting at workshops for activists and organizers around the world; developing resources for practitioners and scholars; and speaking widely about civil resistance movements with academics, journalists, and members of international organizations. His writings have been translated into numerous languages.
He was also an adjunct lecturer at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University) from 2016-2018.
Mr. Merriman recently co-authored the book Glossary of Civil Resistance: A Resource for Study and Translation of Key Terms (2021). In 2019 he co-authored the groundbreaking ICNC Special Report Preventing Mass Atrocities: From a Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) to a Right to Assist (RtoA) Campaigns of Civil Resistance.
He has also contributed to the books Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? (2015), Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization, and Governance in the Middle East (2010), Nonviolence: An Alternative for Countering Global Terror(ism) (2007) and Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential (2005) and co-authored two literature reviews on civil resistance. He further co-wrote A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle, a training curriculum for activists. For a full publication list, click here. He has worked with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict since 2005, and prior to that with the Albert Einstein Institution from 2002.
In addition to his international work with activists, Mr. Merriman was a Senior Advisor to the 2017 James Lawson Institute, and previously served as the Institute’s Director in 2013 and 2014, organizing two eight-day intensive programs for North American organizers and activists. His work with academics and members of civil society includes presenting at venues such as Cambridge University (UK), Central European University (Hungary), the Community of Democracies Secretariat (Poland), Georgetown University, Harvard University, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) (Ecuador), Oberlin College, the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), Stanford University, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), University of Denver, University of Michigan, University of Sarajevo (Bosnia), University of Sydney (Australia), and many other venues. He is a graduate of Oberlin College.
Recent Blog Posts:
• “Start Where You Are: Addressing Four Common Questions about Civil Resistance Training”
March 25, 2021
• “We Know We Need Civil Resistance Training. Now Where Do We Start?”
March 24, 2021
• “Interpreting a Garden of Wildflowers: The Glossary of Civil Resistance”
February 24, 2021
• “Lessons of Uprisings Around the World: The Present Moment, and Possible Future”
November 21, 2019
Spanish translation: “Lecciones de los levantamientos alrededor del mundo: El momento presente y el futuro posible“
• “In a Time of Democratic Backsliding, How Should Civil Society Be Supported?”
October 22, 2019
• “Small Grants, Big Commitment: Reflections on Support for Grassroots Activists and Organizers”
January 10, 2019
• “Supporting Civil Resistance Movements: Considerations for Human Rights Funders and Organizations”
September 11, 2018
• “A Movement-centered Support Model: Considerations for Human Rights Funders and Organizations, Part II”
May 21, 2018
• “A Movement-centered Support Model: Considerations for Human Rights Funders and Organizations, Part I”
April 30, 2018
• “Democracy Insurance”
September 7, 2017
• “A Field Whose Time has Come”
June 21, 2017