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Felix S. Bethke

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Year of Publication: 2020

Bayer, Markus ; Bethke, Felix S. ; Lambach, Daniel, Levelling the Political Playing Field: How Nonviolent Resistance Influences Power Relations after Democratic Transition, Journal of Resistance Studies, Vol. 6, no. 1, 2020, pp. 103-133

This article examines the important question of how far nonviolent resistance promotes peaceful and democratic political outcomes after the overthrow of  a dictatorial or authoritarian regime, as claimed in the nonviolence literature. The authors develop hypotheses about the likelihood of more egalitarian and peaceful relations at a governmental and party political level, and a greater political role for civil society, as a result of use of nonviolent resistance. These hypotheses are examined by comparing post-transition politics in Benin (an impressive example of successful nonviolent resistance) and Namibia (where in 1966 the South West African People's Organization began an armed struggle for independence from apartheid South Africa).