JPST 280: Active Nonviolence

What is active nonviolence?

Active nonviolence and conflict resolution focus on different stages of conflict. Active nonviolence is a sanction employed when conflict resolution has broken down; it is designed to move the parties toward conflict resolution. Active nonviolence also is employed when one or more of the parties to a conflict believe that conflict resolution is maintaining an unjust situation - peace without justice.

Course Description

Active nonviolence as a means for societal defense and social transformation is analyzed through case studies of actual nonviolence movements, examining their political philosophy and how this philosophy is reflected in their methods and strategies. Examples of possible case studies include: Mahatma Gandhi's movement for a free India, the struggle for interracial justice in the United States (the 1961 freedom rides to Mississippi, and integrated Canada-to-Cuba peace-and-freedom walk), the Minnesota farmers' power-line struggle, and the Honeywell Project. The course emphasizes both the development of conceptual understanding and the transformation of personal experience.

This course usually is offered every semester.