Civil disobedience is a form of protest with a special standing with regards to the law that sets it apart from political violence. Such principled law-breaking has been witnessed in recent years over climate change, economic strife, and the treatment of animals.

An exploration of the practice of civil disobedience in America from the nation's earliest days to the present. The distinctive American tradition of civil disobedience stretches back to pre-Revolutionary War days and has served the purposes of determined protesters ever since.

What are the micro-level interactions and conversations that underlie successful and failed diffusion? By comparing the spread of direct action tactics from the 1999 Global Justice Movement protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle to grassroots activists in Toronto and New York, Lesley Wood argues that dynamics of deliberation among local activists both aided and blocked diffusion.

This book explores why anti-militarists resist, considers the politics of different tactics and examines the tensions and debates within the movement.

From environmental activists chaining themselves to logging equipment and blockading nuclear plants to Global Justice protesters disrupting the World Trade Organization summit to Black Lives Matter shutting down freeways, direct action protest has been a defining feature of radical activism in the United States over the last 40 years. Here is a compact history that draws connections between movements that are often seen in isolation, and unearths the often surprising origins of strategies that have become indispensable to today's rebels.

This widely-praised book identified peaceful struggle as a key phenomenon in international politics a year before the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt confirmed its central argument. Civil resistance--non-violent action against such challenges as dictatorial rule, racial discrimination and foreign military occupation--is a significant but inadequately understood feature of world politics.

The new millennium finds humanity situated at critical crossroads. While there are many hopeful signs of cross-cultural engagement and democratic dialogue, it is equally the case that the challenges of warfare and injustice continue to plague nations and communities around the globe. Against this backdrop, there exists a powerful mechanism for transforming crises into opportunities: the philosophy and practice of nonviolence. From considering the principles of the French Revolution and encouraging peace through natural resource management to exploring multiculturism and teaching peace in the elementary classroom, this work is broad in scope yet detailed in its approach to the fundamental principles of nonviolence.