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Movements and Power: Civil Resistance in the 21st Century

This course provides an interactive, in-depth and multidisciplinary perspective on civilian-based movements and campaigns that defend and obtain basic rights and justice around the world. The course explains the nature of civil resistance, its force and its underlying dynamics and effectiveness. We look at how entrenched political and social structures and practices shift under the pressure of organized nonviolent movements, and the long-term impacts on societies, nations, and institutions.

SINDIKASI at Mayday 2024. Credit: SINDIKASI.

What is civil resistance?

Civil resistance is a social and political phenomenon that defies a long-held belief in the power of arms to challenge brutal, violent adversaries. Contrary to the dominant news narrative about endless civil wars and political violence, nonviolent resistance campaigns against repressive states have been on the rise in the last few decades, surpassing violent insurgencies by almost 5 to 1 in the last 15 years. 


For the past several years, ICNC has supported work to develop unique datasets of nonviolent campaigns (NAVCO). In 2011, this work led to a ground-breaking quantitative study that showed that civil resistance movements often emerge and succeed in challenging environments. It also established that civil resistance struggles are more than twice as effective against violent states as armed resistance groups.

Course objectives:

  • Reflect on the skills and agency of ordinary people in civil resistance movements
  • Analyze strategies and tactics used by nonviolent movements to achieve their goals
  • Explore methods for maintaining nonviolent discipline and managing the presence of violent flanks
  • Examine how to leverage the phenomenon of repression backfiring to benefit a movement
  • Understand the facilitation of defections from opposition groups and institutions
  • Study the impact of organized nonviolent movements on shifting entrenched political and social structures and practices
  • Evaluate the long-term effects of civil resistance on societies, nations, and institutions
  • Analyze case studies of civil resistance movements, focusing on objectives such as challenging corruption, changing policies, or countering violent non-state actors, beyond regime change

Image: XR Lille/anonymous with permission.


Structured Learning and Participation Activities

The online course involves a number of activities to be completed within specified time frames, including forum posts, recorded webinars, readings, videos, webinar meetings and online discussions.

Expert Insights and Interactive Engagement

Experts in the field provide their insights and moderate various forums of the online class, while live webinar events offer participants an opportunity to listen to and engage with other practitioners that bring experience of organizing, planning and waging civil resistance actions in different parts of the world.

Course Content

The ICNC online course was incredibly useful to me as an activist educator. The diversity of participants and moderators ensured the context was placed in real life contexts, and I learned about other peoples struggles in a way that was humbling and inspiring.

— Nicola Paris
The ICNC online course is a great platform to connect with activists from all over the world, who are passionate about alleviating the suffering of the repressed socially and politically. It empowers practitioners as well as academics to use every nonviolent method that exists to better their lives and those they care about.
— Carol Daniel
This was exactly the kind of course I was expecting to complete my quest of more diversified and deeper knowledge, opinions, thoughts, and good practices on civil resistance. I have definitely gained new approaches to strengthen my human rights struggle on the ground.
— Yves Boukari Traore, ICNC & Rutgers Online Course Participant