With Dr. Sooyeon Kang
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Webinar Details:
ICNC was pleased to host Dr. Sooyeon Kang, an ICNC 2020 research fellow, to discuss her recent research into how nonviolent movements escalate their demands against a regime.
In places as diverse as Algeria, Chile, Ecuador, Hong Kong, France, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan, people first came together to seek redress in a certain policy area only to then escalate their demands for a leader’s removal or seeking greater systemic change. This “demand escalation” by nonviolent movements is not unique to the current generation or limited to a certain regime type, or a specific geographical region.
How does a group of people go from asking something of the government to demanding that it must go? Dr. Kang argues that movements are more likely to escalate their demands when the state responds to the initial nonviolent action with a disproportionate use of force. Repression expands the grievances of the protesters and betrays the remaining trust that people might have had in the government. Kang’s quantitative analysis demonstrates that demand escalation allows nonviolent campaigns to increase pressure on the government without resort to violence.
About the Presenter:
Sooyeon Kang is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies (Ohio State University) and a non-resident Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights (Harvard Kennedy School). She received her doctorate from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, and was a 2020-2021 Peace Scholar Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and a Doctoral Research Fellow at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. Her research interests include mass mobilization, political violence, political psychology, and all things North Korea. She holds an MA in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a BA in Government and Psychology from Dartmouth College.
Recommended Reading:
“Demand Escalation: How Nonviolent Movements Raise the Heat on Powerholders” by Sooyeon Kang
“Algerians Adopt Civil Resistance to Push for Political Change” by Mohamed Nabil Bennaidja
“A Civil Resistance Awakening in Latin America?” by María Gabriela Mata Carnevali
“Can Hong Kong Be Free Again After the 2020 Crackdown?” by Victoria Tin-bor Hui
“PétroCaribe: Haitian Hope and the Struggle against Corruption” by Gregory François and Jean Sonel Basquin
“The Anatomy of Sudan’s Democratic Revolution—One Year Later” by Stephen Zunes