Civil Resistance 1: The Dynamics of Nonviolent Movements

This course provides a multidisciplinary perspective on nonviolent, civilian-based movements and campaigns that defend and obtain basic rights and justice around the world, and in so doing transform the global security environment.

Coming Soon

Course Instructors

Maria Stephan, Daryn Cambridge, and Althea Middleton-Detzner

Photo Credit:

Course Overview

The rise of nonviolent, people power movements around the world has become a defining feature of the 21st century. Organized citizen campaigns and movements using nonviolent methods are challenging formidable opponents: unaccountable governance, systemic corruption, institutionalized discrimination, environmental degradation, dictatorship, foreign military occupation, and violent extremism. Their “weapons” are not guns or bombs but rather protests, boycotts, sit-ins, civil disobedience, building of alternative institutions, and hundreds of other nonviolent tactics. Combined with the use of traditional political and legal means, these movements have and continue to shape political, social and economic change across the globe.

This course examines the theory, history, and strategy of nonviolent movements. Participants in this course will:

Learn from a diverse set of activists, scholars and practitioners through stories, research, and exercises.
Transform how they analyze and think about conflict – its value, mode, and outcomes.
Engage with a growing community of learners and experts enrolled in the course through a continuous series of live, interactive, and collaborative online events.
Co-create new knowledge and insights to enhance and update the course as the field evolves.

Activists, civil society leaders, scholars, regional experts, policymakers from governments and international organizations, journalists, religious figures, educators/trainers, and those with a keen interest in how ordinary people are transforming conflicts through nonviolent action are encouraged to enroll and join this powerful global conversation.

Agenda

Chapter 1 – Setting the Stage: The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Nonviolent StruggleThis chapter investigates the theories of power, peace, conflict, and obedience that lie at the foundation of nonviolent struggle. We also examine the history of nonviolent struggle and what it can teach us about its effectiveness, challenges, and common misconceptions.

Chapter 2 – Preparation: Analyzing and Strategizing as a Nonviolent MovementThis chapter looks at how nonviolent movements analyze their conflict landscape and think strategically once that information is gathered. We explore a variety of analytical tools and strategic principles that have been adopted by successful nonviolent movements.

Chapter 3 – Mobilization: The Role of Leaders and FollowersThis chapter examines leadership styles, movement-building, and movement structure. We will look at the importance of recruitment, building relationships, sustaining participation, activist roles, and the third party actors.

Chapter 4 – Taking Action: The Methods of Nonviolent StruggleThis chapter explores the range of nonviolent methods that are in a movement’s arsenal. We look at how the use of methods can be mapped out and utilized to carry out the strategic plan and adapt to changing conditions on the ground.

Course Instructors

Daryn Cambridge leads curriculum development and educational design for USIP’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding online courses. Daryn is a peace educator in residence and adjunct professor at American University in Washington, DC, where he teaches courses on education for international development, peace pedagogy, and nonviolent action. His research interests include peace education, nonviolent action, distance learning, and online pedagogy.

Daryn CambridgeUSIP Senior Program Officer, Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding – Full Bio

Dr. Maria J. Stephan is a senior policy fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where she focuses on the dynamics of civil resistance and their relevance for violent conflict prevention and democratic development. Previously, Stephan was lead foreign affairs officer in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO), where she worked on both policy and operations.

Maria J. StephanUSIP Senior Policy Fellow – Full Bio

Althea Middleton-Detzner is Senior Advisor for Education and Field Learning at International Center on Nonviolent Conflict where she has worked on core programmatic and educational initiatives for ten years. She is also a Curriculum Development Specialist for the United States Institute of Peace’s Global Campus and co-founder of Focus Forward, a facilitation and change management consultancy.

Althea Middleton-DetznerSenior Advisor, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict – Full Bio

Case Studies

USIP is proud to partner with York Zimmerman, Inc. to include the Emmy nominated documentary, A Force More Powerful as part of this training course.

This six-part documentary explores one of the 20th century’s most important but least understood stories: how nonviolent power has overcome oppression and authoritarian rule all over the world. Each chapter in the course ends with one of the following episodes:

India: “Defying the Crown”
Nashville: “We were Warriors”
South Africa: “Freedom in our Lifetime”
Denmark: “Living with the Enemy”
Chile: “Defeat of a Dictator”
Poland: “We’ve Caught God by the Arm”

Guest Experts

Hardy Merriman is the President of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. He has worked in the field of civil resistance since 2002. He studies, presents, and writes about grassroots movements nonviolently fighting for human rights and political change around the world. He leads workshops for activists and organizers in these movements; speaks about these movements with academics, journalists, and members of NGOs; and develops resources for practitioners and researchers in the field of nonviolent conflict.

Hardy MerrimanPresident, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. – Full Bio

Dr. Maciej Bartkowski is Senior Director for Education & Research at ICNC where he works on academic programs for students, faculty, and professionals, curricular development, and global academic and educational outreach and research in the growing field of civil resistance studies. He conducts research and writes on nonviolent movements and strategic nonviolent conflict.

Dr. Maciej BartkowskiSenior Director, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict – Full Bio

Erin Mazursky is the Founder and Executive Director of Rhize, a new venture that is re-designing and the function and experience of democracy towards more participatory, just and flourishing communities through the innovation of collective action. Erin brings over a decade of experience in movement-building, technology, human rights and advocacy to her work, having worked with social and political movements around the world, including in Turkey, India, and Albania.

Erin MazurskyFounder and Executive Director, Rhize – Full Bio

Mary Elizabeth King is professor of peace and conflict studies at the UN-affiliated University for Peace and and is Scholar-in-Residence in the School of International Service, at the American University in Washington, D.C. She is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.

Mary Elizabeth KingProfessor, University for Peace – Full Bio

Featured Voices

John LewisU.S. House of Representatives, Georgia – Full Bio

Ivan MarovicOrganizer, Software Developer and Social Innovator – Full Bio

Dr. Erica ChenowethAssociate Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver – Full Bio

Dr. Peter AckermanFounding Chair, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) – Full Bio

Course Details

Price: $395 (Introductory price)
Format: Online: Self-paced
This course is conveniently accessible in a 24/7, on-demand format.

Contact Us

Email: academy@usip.org
Call: (+1) 202-429-7812

Frequently Asked Questions