The “Power, Protest, and Political Change” report is a project by Brooke Davies and Daniel Oyolu, under the supervision of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program’s Dispute System Design Clinic.
During the course of our research, we heard a need articulated to us over and again: that organizers around the US and the world want more access to resources. Some of our interviewees likened their organizing to “building the plane as we’re flying it.” Others said that they were only able to exchange ideas and advice during small weekend retreats or over Twitter. Almost all of them, no matter if they had four years of organizing experience or forty, wanted more ideas from fellow activists from around the world.
We created this webpage to aggregate the best resources we knew on organizing and negotiation. Most of these books, articles, videos, and trainings are free. Some very few are not, and we’ll let you know which ones they are. But all can provide in-depth insight into how to build power, and how to use that power in the negotiation room.
Resource Libraries and Databases
CANVAS (Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies)
ICNC has a few resource portals, including the ICNC’s collaboration with Rutgers University to create the Digital Library of Nonviolent Resistance
Mobilizing Ideas at the University of Notre Dame
Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy, a center of excellence within the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
Swarthmore’s Global Nonviolent Action Database
Umass Amherst Resistance Studies Resources
United States Institute of Peace
Social Media Leaders
Digital Organizing Resource Guide (2020) by State Voices
How to Protest Without Sacrificing Your Digital Privacy (2020) by Vice
Overview of the Arab Spring (2020) by History.com
Twitter and Tear Gas (2017) by Zeynep Tufecki
Toolkits and Handbooks
Brian Martin, Backfire Basics, from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2012), available to download for free here
CIVICUS, Protest Resilience Toolkit (2019), available for free here
Cyberlaw Guide to Protest Art (2018), available for free here
How to make sure government repression backfires—from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict
Howard Barrell and Likely Story Media, Pressing Your Case: Nonviolent Movements and the Media, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (2014)
Howard Clark, Javier Gárate, Joanne Sheehan, and Dorie Wilsnack, Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns, 2nd Ed., From the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2014), available to download for free here
Ivan Marovic, The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2018), available to download for free here
Maciej Bartkowski, An Activist’s Guide to Fighting Foreign Disinformation Warfare, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (2018)
United States Institute of Peace, Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding: An Action Guide (also available in Spanish and Arabic on this site)
Gender-Specific Resources
Erica Chenoweth, Women’s Participation and the Fate of Nonviolent Campaigns, One Earth Future (2019), available to download for free here
Marie A. Principe, Women in Nonviolent Movements, US Institute of Peace (2017), available to download for free here
Tactical Help
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action—tactics adapted from Gene Sharp’s 1973 book, “The Politics of Nonviolent Action: Part 2“
Douglas A. Johnson, The Need for New Tactics, The Center for Victims of Torture (2004), available to download for free here
George Lakey, 5 ways movements can handle threats and attacks, Waging Nonviolence (2015)
Jack DuVall, You Say You Want a Revolution?, The Daily Beast (2014)
Saul Alinsky, Tactics, in Rules for Radicals, (available on Amazon for purchase)
Stefan Verstappen, Protesting in the Time of Police State: How to Stay Safe When Exercising Your Rights, Blog: Art of Urban Survival (2014)
The Theory of Power-building and Organizing
Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (available on Amazon for purchase)
Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (available on Amazon for purchase)
Mark Engler and Paul Engler, This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the Twenty-First Century (available on Amazon for purchase)
Zeynep Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest (available on Amazon for purchase)
Gene Sharp, How Nonviolent Struggle Works (available on Amazon for purchase)
Amy C. Finnegan and Susan G. Hackley, Negotiation and Nonviolent Action: Interacting in the World of Conflict, Harvard Program on Negotiation (2008)
Jonathan Pinckney, When Civil Resistance Succeeds: Building Democracy After Popular Nonviolent Uprisings, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict Monograph Series (2018), available to download for free here
Jonathan Pinckney, Making or Breaking Nonviolent Discipline in Civil Resistance Movements, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2016), available to download for free here
Ekta Perisha, A Guide to Nonviolent Activism, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2020), available to download for free here
Ezra Klein and Erica Chenoweth, Podcast: How to topple dictators and transform society, Vox (2020), available to listen for free here
Erica Chenoweth, People are in the streets protesting Donald Trump. But when does protest actually work?, Washington Post (2016), available to read for free here
Geoffrey Pleyers, From Facebook Movements to City Square Movements, Open Democracy (2014)
Peter Ackerman and Hardy Merriman, The Checklist for Ending Tyranny, from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2015), available to download for free here
Hardy Merriman, The Trifecta of Civil Resistance: Unity, Planning, Discipline, OpenDemocracy.net (2010), available to download for free here
Maciej Bartkowski, Popular Uprising Against Democratically Elected Leaders: What Makes it Legitimate?, Huffington Post (2017)
Managing Multiparty Negotiations, Harvard Program on Negotiation (2005), available to download for free here
Exercises and Trainings
Howard Clark, Javier Garate, Joanne Sheehan, and Dorie Wilsnack, Spectrum of Allies, from the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (2014), available to download for free here