A new partner research initiative at START, Understanding Resilience in Anti-Occupation Resistance Movements, seeks to understand what makes movements resisting foreign occupation resilient to repression. START researcher Louis M. Wasser, leading the project, emphasizes that the study’s core aim is to understand “the extent to which anti-occupation resistance movements can continue to function and pursue their objectives while facing repression.” This work will draw on and contribute to various areas of academic research, including work regarding repression and dissent, violent and nonviolent resistance, and the organizational characteristics of both armed groups and nonviolent campaigns.
Utilizing and expanding the Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO 2.1) dataset, the study will focus on anti-occupation campaigns from the post-WWII era through 2020.
“The goal is to refine and update existing data on anti-occupation resistance movements and to then use it to analyze the sources of resilience to repression, with a particular focus on relevance of tactical variation and campaign-level characteristics” Wasser explains.
To accomplish this, the research team will focus on how variation in resistance tactics (including the use of both violent and/or nonviolent methods) corresponds to differing levels of resilience to repression. “Importantly, resistance isn't just about armed action,” Wasser notes. “The use of nonviolent resistance strategies is a significant part of the picture, even if it is often overlooked.” Indeed, there has been significant work in recent decades exploring the relative effectiveness of nonviolent versus violent resistance methods.
The study will also closely scrutinize how variation in campaign-level characteristics and dynamics impact relative resilience levels. This will include investigating issues such as whether hierarchical campaigns are more or less resilient to repression than non-hierarchical ones, for instance.
The project promises critical insights into the evolving nature of irregular warfare and the enduring strength of movements fighting occupation. “This research will foster greater understanding of the factors that allow resistance movements challenging foreign occupiers to maintain resilience while actively contending with repression,” he explains.