Defying Dictators
Reviewed by Dave Taber, a Peacework intern and a freelance journalist.
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Unarmed Insurrections is, first and foremost, a sociological analysis of nonviolent direct action. Schock looks at examples of successful "people power" movements in the Philippines and South Africa, successful pro-democracy movements in Nepal and Thailand, and "unsuccessful" movements in Burma and China. In retelling the histories of these movements, he attempts to isolate factors which lead some nonviolent movements to succeed and others to fail. In particular, Unarmed Insurrections highlights the importance of building oppositional institutions, utilizing diverse tactics, and garnering substantial international support.
From the outset, Schock makes it clear that he is focusing on "pragmatic," as opposed to ideological, nonviolence. "Pragmatic nonviolence," he writes, "is characterized by a commitment to methods of nonviolent action due to their perceived effectiveness, a view of means and ends as potentially separable, a perception of the conflict as a struggle of incompatible interests, an attempt to inflict nonphysical pressure on the opponent during the course of the struggle to undermine the opponent's power, and an absence of nonviolence as a way of life."
While certainly distinctions between pragmatic and philosophical commitments to nonviolence are important, often nonviolent movements are fueled by people with a mixture of ideological and practical perspectives on these fundamental questions, and it might not always be easy to characterize whole movements as being typified by purely principled or pragmatic approaches. Hairsplitting over definitions aside, however, the value of Unarmed Insurrections for non-academics lies in its comprehensive analysis of strategies that movements utilize and affirmation that a lot of what pacifists believe in principle is genuinely effective in practice.
Schock concludes, for example, that the reasons the movement known as the Tiananmen Square Insurrection was crushed included the failure of Chinese student activists to employ diverse tactics ñ limiting the focus, primarily, to mass actions in the square ñ failure to build umbrella institutions to coordinate action and sustain the struggle, and failure to realistically gauge the vulnerability of the Chinese government, which is, Schock points out, a pretty tight ship.
In addition to the establishment of "coordinated networks of decentralized organizations," and "the implementation of a broad range of actions from across the methods of nonviolent action," Schock identifies "the withdrawal of support for and mobilization of pressure against the state through its dependence relations," as a key in determining the success of nonviolent mass direct action campaigns against repressive regimes. Social unionism and people's strikes played key roles in all of the successful insurrections Schock studied, often driving a wedge between the political ruling class and capitalist interests.
International withdrawal of support for oppressive regimes was most notable in Schock's study of Burma, where the movement suffered from a dearth of autonomous civic and religious institutions, a lack of division amongst the ruling elite and, thanks to the Burmese government's historically isolationist tendencies, a lack of support from influential allies abroad.
It was disappointing that Unarmed Insurrections fails to consider movements, like the Zapatistas in Mexico or the Landless Peasants Movement in Brazil, where some degree of autonomy is the main goal, rather than state reform. It would have been fascinating if he had analyzed how the elements required for success might shift when the goals of the movement are different.
He also fails to discuss fully the negative impact that international and transnational influences can have on people power movements. He does mention that, in the successful Filipino revolt against the dictator, Marcos, in 1986, the leverage of the people power coalition, Bayan, was "undercut by... the formation of a US and military backed revolution." The US government had supported Marcos for years, but saw the handwriting on the wall in the last days of the regime. Thus, the international influence of the US government during the uprising helped tip the balance away from Marcos, but also undermined Bayan's efforts to more fundamentally transform Filipino society.
Counter institutions, diversity of tactics, strong domestic and international solidarity, and social and economic leverage are all held to be vital for successful movements by anyone who pays attention to theories of popular revolt. Schock's analyses help illustrate the interplay between these factors. Mirroring some of the limitations of the insurrections Schock studies, this is not a guide for nonviolently transforming societies in fundamental ways, and this left me disappointed. However, I imagine that if I were about to throw myself into a mass movement of nonviolent direct action, I would appreciate Unarmed Insurrections as one tool to help me analyze the social-political environment and develop effective strategies.
