Peaceful Resistance: Advancing Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms

In an innovative study which examines the interplay between domestic human rights policies and domestic resistance movements within authoritarian states, Robert Press explores the creation and impact of cultures of resistance on democracy movements and casts a critical lens on existing social movement theory. As foreign pressure and the influence of external actors overshadow the importance of domestic actors, especially in developing authoritarian states, this study highlights how activists do not wait for societal openings such as war, industrialization or prolonged economic crisis. Increasingly they create their own openings, responding to state repression through tactical games such as dissident publications, illegal public demonstration and through the courts.The book will attract a broad market in the fields of international relations, politics and social theory, as well as scholars in peace studies and human rights.