International Center
on Nonviolent Conflict

ICNC focuses on how ordinary people wage nonviolent conflict to win rights, freedom and justice.

  • New ICNC Online Course Launches in March

    Movements and Power: Civil Resistance in the 21st Century

    For a dozen years, the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict has hosted the People Power online course. With new case studies, quantitative studies, and activists advancing ideas and methods of resistance, ICNC is now launching the inaugural Movements and Power course.

    In Movements and Power: Civil Resistance in the 21st Century, activists and scholars from around the world will spend four weeks watching videos, reading articles, and discussing:

    – Power Dynamics and Theories
    – Transitioning from a Protest to a Movement
    – The Movement Cycle and Ecosystem
    – Planning Strategy and Choosing Tactics
    – Catalyzing Defections
    – Increasing Participation and Building Alliances
    – Repression Management and Backfire

    Apply today to be considered for the first cohort of this free online course.

    Course Dates: March 24 – April 20, 2025
    Application Deadline: March 16

    Apply Today

  • Webinar:

    How Polish Judges Fought to Keep Their Independence

    with Dr. Marcin Mrowicki
    and panelists Elizabeth A. Wilson and Doug Coltart

    This webinar explores the ways in which the legal community can draw practical lessons from the Polish judiciary’s resistance to authoritarian pressures under the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS). It delves into the tactics judges employed to safeguard their independence, from subtle acts of defiance within courtrooms to collective public resistance.

  • New Publication:

    All Rise: Judicial Resistance in Poland

    All Rise: Judicial Resistance in Poland by Dr. Marcin Mrowicki investigates the strategic and organized resistance of Polish judges against the authoritarian encroachments on judicial independence by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party from 2015 to 2023. Under the leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński, PiS systematically targeted key judicial institutions like the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Court, implementing reforms to undermine judicial autonomy. This assault sparked an unprecedented resistance movement among Polish judges, who employed legal and extralegal tactics to defend the rule of law.

    Download a Free Copy

  • Recent Publication:

     

    Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian Threat combines insights on civil resistance, democratic waves, autocratization, democratic backsliding, international law, and other disciplines to advance a foreign policy approach that supports and enables pro-democracy and human rights movements.

    Watch the promotional video and download the publication:

    Download a Free Copy

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