Civil Resistance - Historical Examples

Historical Examples

Civil resistance is a long-standing and widespread phenomenon in human history. Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash in their book Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present include accounts of many significant historical examples they label civil resistance. These case-studies, both successful and unsuccessful, include:

  • Mohandas K. Gandhi’s role in the Indian independence movement in 1917-47
  • the US civil rights struggle in the 1960s, led by Martin Luther King Jr.
  • aspects of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland in 1967-72
  • the Revolution of the Carnations in Portugal in 1974-5, supporting the military coup of 25 April 1974
  • the Iranian Revolution in 1977–79, before Khomeini’s advent to power in February 1979
  • the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in the 1980s that ousted President Marcos
  • the campaigns against apartheid in South Africa, especially in 1983-94
  • the mass mobilization against authoritarian rule in Pinochet's Chile, 1983–88
  • the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China
  • the various movements contributing to the revolutions of 1989 in central and eastern Europe, and to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991
  • the campaign against Serbian domination in Kosovo, 1990–98, that was followed by war
  • the revolutions in Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and Ukraine in 2004, all of which involved successful resistance against an incumbent government that had refused to acknowledge its defeat in an election and had sought to falsify the election results
  • the demonstrations, mainly led by students and monks, in Burma in 2007.

Numerous other campaigns, both successful and unsuccessful, could be included in a longer listing. In 1967 Gene Sharp produced a list of 84 cases. He has followed this with further surveys.

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