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1. The Role of External Support in Nonviolent Campaigns: Poisoned Chalice or Holy Grail?

Author:
Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Abstract:
This monograph is based on an ICNC-sponsored multi-year research project that examines the effects of different forms of external aid on the outcomes and longer-term impacts of civil resistance campaigns. Very little research has systematically investigated the impacts of external support on the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. Existing research reaches somewhat contradictory conclusions, with some finding that external support for nonviolent campaigns is harmful, that external support is sometimes helpful, or that external support has little observable effect. This study assesses different types of external assistance—material and non-material—to civil resistance movements offered by state and non-state actors at different stages: pre-, during and post-conflict periods. It further evaluates the impact of the specific type of aid, its timing and provisions by different actors on the overall trajectories of civil resistance campaigns and their outcomes.
Topic:
Civil Society, Foreign Aid, Non State Actors, Resistance, and Nonviolence
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. A Source of Escalation or a Source of Restraint? Whether and How Civil Society Affects Mass Killings

Author:
Erica Chenoweth and Evan Perkoski
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Why do some state-led mass killings end quickly while others endure for over a decade? And why do some states murder millions of constituents during the course of mass killings, whereas other states seem to retreat from the brink after killing hundreds? A large body of work has focused on the important role played by civil society and nongovernmental actors in initiating different forms of rescue, evasion, and assistance in the midst of different cases of mass killings, as well as on the political pressure they have applied in bringing about the end of civil conflicts. Despite many inspiring and hopeful cases of collective action under systems of intense repression, other research finds civil society can accelerate or exacerbate mass killings. In this paper, we test some basic mechanisms that emerge from the literature on the connection between civil society and mass killings, and we find that a complex albeit meaningful relationship exists. We find that, in general, a relatively participatory and autonomous civil society is correlated with shorter periods of mass killings. However, we also find that active civil societies are associated with higher rates of lethality, particularly when the society has high levels of inequality. Because most mass killing events are relatively short, our findings suggest that civil societies in states with uneven access to power are more commonly correlated with longer, deadlier spells of government violence. This conclusion seemingly supports the view of civil society skeptics, at least in highly unequal contexts where mass killings have already begun.
Topic:
Civil Society, Atrocities, Escalation, and Massacre
Political Geography:
Global Focus