The Politics of Adopting Nonviolent Civilian Defence in Middle and Smaller Powers

Gene Sharp, and those who have followed in his footsteps, have not articulated a convincing politics of implementation. First, Sharp’s approach is implicitly top-down. The goal is to persuade policymakers, in government and the military, that nonviolent defence in not only cheaper and less damaging than a wholly military defence, but also effective and potentially popular. If research and persuasion can lead decision makers to this conclusion, they will experiment with civilian-based defence because it is in the national interest. Secondly, from Sharp’s viewpoint, NVD must be a nonpartisan issue, an all-of-society approach. His assumption is that divisions within society are bridgeable, that the vast majority can accept NVD on patriotic grounds. Both assumptions appear dubious today. Governments and militaries are unlikely to adopt NVD unless they are pushed to do so from below. Sharp’s approach, it appears to me, largely ignores the vested interests, ideological supports, and careers that perpetuate militarism. In addition, NVD poses a threat to governments that empower their people through training and organization in nonviolent resistance. A people so prepared might turn these tools on their own government to correct some purported injustice, norm violation, or anti-democratic action. Also, in today’s politically divided societies, NVD will not emerge as a nonpartisan or technical issue. It is likely to be a political issue that engages one section of the population, while others denounce it as a plot. Bottom-up politics is a more realistic path to implementation, but it is unlikely to be a nationally unified project. Institutions of civil society with a proclivity for NVD can be the first adopters. And, given the variety of social movements that have already arisen in the 21st century to expand the idea of equal freedom, it may be that a much-needed, movement for democratic renewal will adopt NVD as one aspect of its broader program. But experimentation in NVD can begin without such a movement.