2020/02/12 by Costantino Pischedda · 23 citations
Social Sciences · #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Political Conflict and Governance #Political science #Ethnic group #Ethnic conflict #Resistance (ecology) #Criminology #Political economy #Development economics #Sociology #Law #Economics
paper · doi:10.1080/09636412.2020.1722854
published in Security Studies 29(2), 362-391 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2020/02/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Recent research shows that campaigns of nonviolent resistance are much more successful in producing radical political change than armed rebellion. I argue that the study of nonviolent resistance has paid insufficient attention to a key condition for success—a shared ethnic identity between challengers and government. When challengers and incumbent belong to different ethnic groups, the prospects of campaign success are drastically curtailed, as this situation of “ethnic conflict” inhibits the mechanisms through which nonviolent resistance enables success: emergence of a critical mass of challengers, defection of segments of the security apparatus and the regime inner circle, and development of feelings of sympathy for the opposition cause among key government decision makers. Statistical analysis of all nonviolent campaigns from 1945 to 2006 supports my argument. Nonviolent ethnic campaigns are significantly and substantially less likely to succeed and draw both fewer participants and government defectors than their nonethnic counterparts.