This action guide seeks to build bridges between peacebuilding and nonviolent action practitioners so that methods are used strategically and effectively on the path toward conflict transformation. It shows how dialogue, direct-action skills, and approaches can be synergized to advance justice and sustainable peace. This guide is for trainers, facilitators, and other practitioners serving the many organizers, activists, mediators, negotiators, and peacebuilders who want to learn more about how to integrate nonviolent action and peacebuilding strategies in their work.

The guide is also available in BurmeseSpanish and Arabic

Table of Contents

Related Publications

How Nelson Mandela’s Legacy Still Resonates for Youth Movements

How Nelson Mandela’s Legacy Still Resonates for Youth Movements

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

By: Miranda Rivers

As December marks 10 years since the passing of Nelson Mandela, an icon of 20th-century struggles for justice and peace, a new generation of activists is building from his legacy to counter our 21st-entury crises of rising global violence. Among the signs of Mandela’s vital relevance for us now is a global, online conference to bolster nonviolent social action in pursuit of justice and peace that opens December 7, hosted by the Stanford University-based World House Project with partner groups from South Africa, India, Mexico and elsewhere.

Type: Analysis

Nonviolent Action

USIP’s Mandela Series

USIP’s Mandela Series

Friday, November 3, 2023

By: Ambassador Johnnie Carson

After spending 27 years in prison, many expected Nelson Mandela to emerge as a man full of bitterness and anger toward those who had imprisoned him. Instead, he emerged as a towering figure of peace and justice whose own self-sacrifice and leadership were instrumental in ending the brutal apartheid system in South Africa. USIP’s Ambassador Johnnie Carson discusses the Institute’s new Mandela Series — a collection of lectures and seminars from notable peacebuilders that celebrates Mandela’s life and explores how his legacy can guide those seeking a better, more peaceful future.

Type: Blog

Nonviolent ActionPeace Processes

Overcoming the Challenges of Transitional Mobilization

Overcoming the Challenges of Transitional Mobilization

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

By: Suha Hassen;  Jonathan Pinckney

Nonviolent action can be a powerful way to bring about peaceful transitions from autocratic rule to democracy. But even when initially successful, movement leaders often face significant challenges, from frustrations that grievances are not addressed quickly enough to counterrevolutions aimed at restoring the authoritarian status quo. This report examines two recent transitions—the 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and Armenia’s 2018 Velvet Revolution—and presents recommendations for improving the likelihood that change initiated through nonviolent action leads to robust and lasting democracy.

Type: Peaceworks

Nonviolent Action

The Latest @ USIP: Russia’s Indigenous People Protest the War in Ukraine

The Latest @ USIP: Russia’s Indigenous People Protest the War in Ukraine

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

By: Vera Solovyeva

Despite U.N. protections for Indigenous people, Russian law does not offer recognition to many of its Indigenous communities — making it difficult for them to assert and protect their rights. Vera Solovyeva, a researcher at George Mason University, discusses the various challenges facing Indigenous peoples in Russia, why Indigenous women and mothers are protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine, and what she believes is the path toward peace.

Type: Blog

Human RightsNonviolent Action

View All Publications


Related Projects

Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding

Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding

The impetus behind SNAP comes from case study research that highlights how grassroots activists, organizers, and peacebuilders engaged in nonviolent action and peacebuilding can use approaches from both fields together to strategically plan and more effectively prevent violence, address grievances, and advance justice. While scholars such as Adam Curle, John Paul Lederach, Lisa Schirch, Veronique Dudouet, and Anthony Wanis-St. John have explored synergies between the two fields for decades, the SNAP guide is one of the first to offer practical modules and exercises meant to help practitioners operationalize the combined approach at the grassroots

Education & TrainingMediation, Negotiation & DialogueNonviolent ActionPeace Processes

View All