Nonviolent Action Lab

Producing and disseminating knowledge on nonviolent action

The Nonviolent Action Lab studies how people can create transformative social and political change using creative, disruptive, people power. In so doing, we produce public goods for activists, citizens, scholars, and students who want to know where nonviolent collective action occurs, and to analyze or learn about global trends in its forms, dynamics, and impacts.

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The Floyd Protests Are the Broadest in U.S. History — and Are Spreading to White, Small-Town America

The Floyd Protests Are the Broadest in U.S. History — and Are Spreading to White, Small-Town America

Abstract:

Erica Chenoweth discusses the Floyd protests and its impact on law, social policies, and the 2020 elections.

Across the country, people are protesting the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and demanding action against police violence and systemic racism. National media focuses on the big demonstrations and protest policing in major cities, but they have not picked up on a different phenomenon that may have major long-term consequences for politics. Protests over racism and #BlackLivesMatter are spreading across the country — including in small towns with deeply conservative politics.

: Erica Chenoweth et al. | June 6 2020
: Erica Chenoweth discusses the Floyd protests and its impact on law, social policies, and the 2020 elections.
Last updated on 06/18/2020

Media Coverage Has Blown Anti-Lockdown Protests out of Proportion

Citation:

Erica Chenoweth, Lara Putnam, Tommy Leung, Jeremy Pressman, and Nathan Perkins. 5/10/2020. “Media Coverage Has Blown Anti-Lockdown Protests out of Proportion.” Vox. See full text.
Media Coverage Has Blown Anti-Lockdown Protests out of Proportion

Abstract:

Erica Chenoweth explains that anti-lockdown protests are smaller than portrayed, but the media is amplifying their message.

In the last few weeks, protests against state lockdowns and social distancing measures have seized national headlines. The wall-to-wall coverage might give the impression that what we’re seeing is a powerful grassroots movement in the making. But research we just conducted on protest attendance and media coverage shows something different: This massive media coverage has in fact been out of proportion.

A comprehensive look at the social distancing protests reveals that they have been small in terms of both the number of participants and locations. As one official in the administration of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) tweeted about a protest in Annapolis on April 20, “There were more media inquiries about this than there were participants.”

Read the full article.

 

: Erica Chenoweth et al. | May 10 2020
: Erica Chenoweth explains that anti-lockdown protests are smaller than portrayed, but the media is amplifying their message.
Last updated on 05/11/2020

The Global Pandemic Has Spawned New Forms of Activism – and They’re Flourishing

Citation:

Erica Chenoweth, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, Jeremy Pressman, Felipe G Santos, and Jay Ulfelder. 4/20/2020. “The Global Pandemic Has Spawned New Forms of Activism – and They’re Flourishing.” The Guardian. See full text.
The Global Pandemic Has Spawned New Forms of Activism – and They’re Flourishing

Abstract:

We’ve identified nearly 100 distinct methods of nonviolent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions
Erica Chenoweth and team have been collecting data on the various methods that people have used to express solidarity or adapted to press for change in the midst of this crisis. In just several weeks’ time, they've identified nearly 100 distinct methods of nonviolent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions – and they’re still counting. Far from condemning social movements to obsolescence, the pandemic – and governments’ responses to it – are spawning new tools, new strategies, and new motivation to push for change.

Read the full article from The Gaurdian.

 
: Erica Chenoweth et al. | April 20 2020
: We’ve identified nearly 100 distinct methods of nonviolent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions.
Last updated on 04/21/2020
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Research shows that demonstrations are just one of many tools that civil resistance movements can use to effect change. Such movements are effective when they do three things: attract widespread and diverse participation; develop a strategy that allows them to maneuver around repression; and provoke defections, loyalty shifts, or disobedience among regime elites and/or security forces.”

- Erica Chenoweth