Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 03/2015

Using Technology in Nonviolent Activism against Repression

Noel Dickover, Kelly McKone, Maria J. Stephan

January 2015

United States Institute of Peace

Abstract

In an era of crackdowns on freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, what role can technology play in strengthening nonviolent civic mobilization? How can activists strategically apply the full range of technologies to build and sustain movements where the options for nonviolently resolving conflicts are diminishing under increased repression? Informed by discussions from a USIP workshop, this report explores avenues for engagement between activists and external actors to use technology in support of movement building.