Understanding Paths Toward Strategic Success in NVR Campaigns: A Comparison of Palestinian and South African Resistance

The following paper fills a gap in the literature of nonviolent resistance (NVR) by investigating when and under what circumstances it is necessary for nonviolent resistance campaigns to enlist the support of outside actors in order to achieve strategic success. Using Gene Sharp\u27s pillars of power theory as a comparative framework, the author pairs the method of process-tracing with a most-similar-systems design in order to fashion a time-series experiment measuring the strength of each pillar of power propping up the target regimes of South Africa and Israel. The results reveal that these variables are interacting. The paper also reveals that the U.S. played a key role in both conflicts due to the extent to which it helped prop up both regimes during the period of study and makes recommendations to help improve the chances for success of Palestinian nonviolence and other NVR campaigns