Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves

Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves
ISBN-10
1107159806
ISBN-13
9781107159808
Category
Political Science
Pages
376
Language
English
Published
2017-07-31
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Author
Oliver Kaplan

Description

In civil conflicts around the world, unarmed civilians take enormous risks to protect themselves and confront heavily armed combatants. This is not just counterintuitive - it is extraordinary. In this book, Oliver Kaplan explores cases from Colombia, with extensions to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and the Philippines, to show how and why civilians influence armed actors and limit violence. Based on fieldwork and statistical analysis, the book explains how local social organization and cohesion enable both covert and overt nonviolent strategies, including avoidance, cultures of peace, dispute resolution, deception, protest, and negotiation. These 'autonomy' strategies help civilians retain their agency and avoid becoming helpless victims by limiting the inroads of armed groups.

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