The Power of Nonviolence

Gregg, Richard B.

doi:10.1017/9781316671351

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Past studies showed that even though nonviolent movements usually face violent repression 1 -any attempts by groups, individuals, or the state to maximize the costs of participating in collective action (Ritzer, 2007)-they are significantly more successful than violent movements. Literature on civil resistance has echoed the importance of nonviolence and the cost of violence by introducing concepts such as "moral jiu-jitsu" (i.e., losing moral balance due to violence; Gregg, 1934) and backfire (i.e., violent repression of a movement that feeds back into further (non)violent resistance; Martin, 1998;Sharp, 1973). However, this scholarship relies almost exclusively on archival data that is retrospective in nature (Chenoweth & Stephan, 2011;Stephan & Chenoweth, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

The power of nonviolence: Confirming and explaining the success of nonviolent (rather than violent) political movements

Orazani

Leidner

2018

Euro J Social Psych

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Drawing on literatures on social movements and collective action, mentalization, and morality, four studies investigated whether a social movement's use of nonviolence can increase people's willingness to support and join the movement. In a correlational study with a nested design, across 23 movements perceived use of nonviolence predicted participants' willingness to support and join the movement (Study 1, n = 203). This effect was also found experimentally, with Americans supporting nonviolent movements more than violent ones, in hypothetical and real foreign countries (Study 2 and 3, ns = 606 and 373). Study 4 (n = 247) replicated the effects in participants' own country. The effects were transmitted by attribution of mental states to nonviolent movements and subsequent greater perceived morality (Study 2–4). This research demonstrates that nonviolence can benefit social movements in terms of support and mobilization potential, and that these benefits are rooted in perceptions of mental capacity, humanness, and morality.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

The power of nonviolence: Confirming and explaining the success of nonviolent (rather than violent) political movements

Orazani

Leidner

2018

Euro J Social Psych

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“…For Gandhi, the British could not do anything in India without the Indians allowing it (Nojeim, 2004). Though non-violent struggle is stronger and ethically superior to violence, it is often diluted or contaminated by anger or enmity and its power undermined (Gregg, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading at the edge of chaos: historical perspectives on the qualities of leadership for cultural diversity and conflict resolution

Alfoqahaa

Jones

2020

IJPL

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PurposeBuilding on the contributions of chaos and complexity theories, this paper aims to conceptualize how the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were able to transform chaos (randomness) into order (integration). More specifically, it aims to identify the qualities by which such leadership worked in the context of conflict and cultural confrontations, which is, leading at the edge of chaos.Design/methodology/approachThis research follows a qualitative approach in data collection and analysis; it narrates and analyses biographic data as well as literature about these three prominent leaders. Common qualities of these leaders are explored in-depth, discussed and linked.FindingsSuccess in leading at the edge of chaos was attributed to the following leadership qualities: vision, non-violence and tolerance. This paper conceptualizes Gandhi, King and Mandela's embodiment of these qualities in transforming difference and disagreement to unity and how they inspired and developed their societies at home and all over the world. This paper concludes with the following results: Dr King, Gandhi and Mandela were visionary leaders; the three leaders had a vision about the future of freedom, equality and peace. More importantly, they were able to hearts and minds, and convey their visions to followers and to society at large. They struggled to achieve their goals non-violently, but knew that violence could destroy society due to unbalanced power structures. In the fight for their people's emancipation/freedom, they avoided ethnic, racial and religious discrimination. The three leaders were politically, culturally and socially tolerant.Research limitations/implicationsBy identifying their leadership qualities and analyzing their leadership mechanisms, this paper stresses the necessity of the emergence and preservation of leadership as exhibited by King, Gandhi, Mandela and many other influential leaders. Leaders, committed to enrichment and sustainability of cultural diversity and nurturing of tolerance, can play a role in unifying nations. Practically put, today’s leaders need to rethink their strategies, by taking into consideration what Gandhi, King and Mandela have contributed to leadership in dealing with cultural diversity and conflict. Furthermore, leaders must extend the applicability of such leadership to include the ending of violence in every facet of people's lives, and work publicly to overcome the challenges encountering human kind such as nuclear weapons, war, poverty, racism, global warming, drugs, religious bigotry and violence of any kind. That is, today's leaders need to lead at the edge of chaos due to the ongoing conflicts around the globe.Originality/valueThis paper uniquely conceptualizes leadership qualities by analyzing and comparing literature and biographical data of the above-mentioned leaders. The study also contributes to the existing literature on leadership using an interdisciplinary approach by proving the mechanisms by which leadership transforms chaos into order within the context of cultural diversity and confrontation, where studies are rare. This research contributes to the theory of leaderships at three levels. First, it offers an interdisciplinary theory on leadership qualities by linking these qualities with chaos and complexity theories. Second, unlike the majority of literature which views leadership from a business or public leadership perspective, this research provides a new perspective of leadership for cultural diversity. Third, it highlights the role models of three exemplary leaders for each of whom previous literature is lacking.

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“…Gandhi's American interpreter Richard Gregg captures this point when he describes the power of non-violence as a form of jiu jitsu: by fearlessly suffering violence the satyagrahi turns her opponents' own force against them. 89 Where the satyagrahi fearlessly accepts death and is unmoved by impatience, she cannot be threatened, coerced, or dominated by her adversary. "An arm striking the air will become disjointed."…”

Section: Political Action As Fidelity To Truthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fidelity to Truth: Gandhi and the Genealogy of Civil Disobedience

Livingston

2017

Political Theory

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Mohandas Gandhi is civil disobedience’s most original theorist and most influential mythmaker. As a newspaper editor in South Africa, he chronicled his experiments with satyagraha by drawing parallels to ennobling historical precedents. Most enduring of these were Socrates and Henry David Thoreau. The genealogy Gandhi invented in these years has become a cornerstone of contemporary liberal narratives of civil disobedience as a continuous tradition of conscientious appeal ranging from Socrates to King to Rawls. One consequence of this contemporary canonization of Gandhi’s narrative, however, has been to obscure the radical critique of violence that originally motivated it. This essay draws on Edward Said’s account of travelling theory to unsettle the myth of doctrine that has formed around civil disobedience. By placing Gandhi’s genealogy in the context of his critique of modern civilization, as well as his formative but often-overlooked encounter with the British women’s suffrage movement, it reconstructs Gandhi’s paradoxical notion that sacrificial political action is the fullest expression of self-rule. For Gandhi, Socrates and Thoreau exemplify civil disobedience as a fearless practice of fidelity to truth profoundly at odds with liberal conceptions of disobedience as fidelity to law.

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The Power of Nonviolence

Cited by 22 publications

References 14 publications

The power of nonviolence: Confirming and explaining the success of nonviolent (rather than violent) political movements

The power of nonviolence: Confirming and explaining the success of nonviolent (rather than violent) political movements

Leading at the edge of chaos: historical perspectives on the qualities of leadership for cultural diversity and conflict resolution

Fidelity to Truth: Gandhi and the Genealogy of Civil Disobedience

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