Reading List
Adam Roberts
Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford
Sir Adam Roberts is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Balliol College. He was Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford from 1986 to 2007 and President of the British Academy from 2009 to 2013.
His work covers civil resistance, the laws of war, the United Nations and the history of international relations. With Timothy Garton Ash he edited Civil Resistance and Power Politics, a survey of non-violent action from Gandhi to the present, and later Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring. His other books include Documents on the Laws of War, Nations in Arms and United Nations, Divided World.
He began his career as assistant editor of Peace News and taught at the London School of Economics before moving to Oxford. He was knighted in 2002.
The Lady and the Peacock
by Peter Popham
“This book is extremely topical, and Aung San Suu Kyi is a genuinely interesting character. How could a single individual remain so heroic over such a long time, and be prepared to accept effective imprisonment in her own home even when her husband lies dying abroad? It’s a gripping story at a human level, and is very well told here.” — via Interview, December 2011
People Power and Political Change
by April Carter
“First, it’s the shortest of the five books under review. It’s very succinct and tightly written. The second thing that strikes me is its emphasis on “people power” – by which she means essentially the same thing as civil resistance, but particularly focusing on those crisis moments when there are millions on the streets and so on, the high points of civil resistance campaigns.” — via Interview, December 2011
Why Civil Resistance Works
The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict
by Erica Chenoweth
“For instance, is non-violent resistance adopted because the issue is perceived to be relatively easy or the adversary is perceived to be weak or lacking in support? They go into that sort of question to some extent, but I think there will be very interesting debate around this book about whether if you’d chosen a different lot of cases you would have come to another conclusion.” — via Interview, December 2011
Defeating Authoritarian Leaders in Postcommunist Countries
by Valerie Bunce and Sharon Wolchik
“All of those. Also elections in Croatia and Slovakia, where there were no great public campaigns afterwards because the results of those elections were more or less observed. The authors, Valerie Bunce and Sharon Wolchik, look at quite a wide variety of cases between 1998 and 2005.” — via Interview, December 2011
Sharp’s Dictionary of Power and Struggle
Language of Civil Resistance in Conflicts
by Gene Sharp
“Gene Sharp has been consistent over a period of 50 years in advocating more serious study of non-violent action. It’s also inevitable, if you have an American citizen who has been advocating this, that there will be people around the world – especially tawdry rulers and propagandists in dictatorial states – who accuse him of being a CIA agent or worse. It’s all absolute nonsense.” — via Interview, December 2011