Book Review: Kurt Schock, Civil Resistance Today
| Published date | 01 July 2016 |
| Date | 01 July 2016 |
| Author | Vijay Kumar |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881718759409 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
330 Book Reviews
mentioned: (a) strong factual and methodological basis and (b) breadth of inter-
pretation. Sociological surveys give intimate glimpse to public beliefs and fears.
The Twilight Zone: Traps of the Transition Era is a unique contribution to the
field. It will remain relevant study until then Kazakhstan will experience the transition
of power. For today’s reader, authors create space for debates and do not impose one
vision neither for current political system nor for potential scenarios of the future.
The book is highly recommended for students of political studies and international
relations, as well as for people interested in politics in Central Asia.
Ainagul Smetova
Doctoral Candidate, Centre for Russian and
Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi,
India.
E-mail: ainyoka@bk.ru
Kurt Schock, Civil Resistance Today (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015)
p. 246., $ 24.95.
DOI: 10.1177/0020881718759409
The achievements of non-violent civil resistance movements are very much
visible in the present world. There have been number of non-violent resistance’s
movement lead by great leaders (i.e., Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King,
Nelson Mandela), who have been able to achieve the desired result and have left
everlasting impact/impression on human kind. Politically and morally it has been
most viable means to organize people in order to raise certain demand, or to ask
the authorities to address certain injustice prevalent in society. From women’s
movement to worker’s movement and environment movement to anti-nuclear and
anti-globalization movement, the use of non-violent civil resistance method get
them greater legitimacy as civilized form of resistance than the use of other forms
of resistance. That is why we are witnessing rise in civil resistance movements in
present times. It becomes more viable means when used to mobilize/organize
people against highly organized and resourceful state power or regime.
Academically, there is no dearth of literatures dealing with case studies of
various non-violent civil resistance movements, their demands and their outcomes;
however, what we are lacking is literature specifically dealing with civil
resistance—its historical, conceptual, theoretical, comparative, strategic as well
as relational aspects. In this regard, Kurt Schock’s work on Civil Resistance Today
tries to fill that void. It is a kind of introductory book for those who wants to get
acquainted with the term civil resistance as concept, theory, strategy, its history as
well as its relevance. In a way this book tries to present an overview of civil
resistance movement.
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