Breaking Laws
Violence and Civil Disobedience in Protest
Published on 1. October 2025
272 pages
978-1-040-79517-0 (ISBN)
Description
Breaking Laws: Violence and Civil Disobedience in Protest questions the complex relationship between social movements and violence through two contrasted lenses; first through the short-lived radical left wing post '68 revolutionary violence, and secondly in the present diffusion of civil disobedience actions, often at the border between non-violence and violence. This book shows how and why violence occurs or does not, and what different meanings it can take. The short-lived extreme left revolutionary groups that grew out of May '68 and the opposition to the Vietnam War (such as the German Red Army Faction, the Italian Red Brigades, and the Japanese Red Army) are without any doubt on the violent side. More ambiguous are the burgeoning contemporary forms of civil disobedience, breaking the law with the aim of changing it. In theory, these efforts are associated with non-violence and self-restraint. In practice, the line is more difficult to trace, as much depends on how political players define and frame non-violence and political legitimacy.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
2,04 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-79517-0 (9781040795170)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€67.90
Not yet published
Isabelle Sommier | Graeme Hayes | Ollitrault
Breaking Laws
Violence and Civil Disobedience in Protest
Book
04/2019
Amsterdam University Press
€166.10
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Isabelle Sommier is Full Professor of Political Sociology at Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University, former director of the CRPS (Centre de recherches politiques de la Sorbonne) and currently Deputy Director of the CESSP (Centre europeen de sociologie et de science politique, a fusion between CRPS and CSE Bourdieu institute). She has published on the theory of social movements, political violence, radicalization and terrorism.
Graeme Hayes is Reader in Political Sociology at Aston University, UK. He is joint Editor of Environmental Politics and Consulting Editor of Social Movement Studies, and has published widely on non-violent action, environmental movements, and protest traditions.
Sylvie Ollitrault is Senior researcher at CNRS-France, Rennes University. She has published on French environmental movements, NGO action and protest movement. She is involved in numerous academic networks (AFSPIPSA-ECPR) on Green movements.
Graeme Hayes is Reader in Political Sociology at Aston University, UK. He is joint Editor of Environmental Politics and Consulting Editor of Social Movement Studies, and has published widely on non-violent action, environmental movements, and protest traditions.
Sylvie Ollitrault is Senior researcher at CNRS-France, Rennes University. She has published on French environmental movements, NGO action and protest movement. She is involved in numerous academic networks (AFSPIPSA-ECPR) on Green movements.
Content
Acknowledgements, List of Abbreviations, Organizations, and Parties Introduction to Breaking Laws Part 1 Revolutionary Violence: Experiences of Armed Struggle in France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States Isabelle Sommier Translated by Marina Urquidi 1. Introduction to Part 1: Revolutionary Violence in Context 2. A Subject Concealed Violence and Social Movements: Fragmented Analytic Traditions Distinguishing Terrorism and Revolutionary Violence The Silence Surrounding 1968 The '1968 years', a cycle of protest 3. A Revolutionary Period? The International Context The Student Revolts The United States Japan Germany France and Italy The Generational Dimension of Revolt The Growth of the Extreme Left The United States Japan Germany France Italy The Autonomous Movement 4. Radicalization Processes Repression and Counter-Movements Germany Italy Japan The United States Competition and Mutual Influences The United States Italy Japan France Social Isolation Germany High-Risk Commitment and the Logics of Clandestine Action 5. Strategies of Violence Propaganda of the Deed The United States Japan France Resistance and Urban Guerrilla Warfare Germany Italy The Insurrectionary Model: Taking the Attack to the Heart of the State Germany Anti-Imperialism and the Transnationalization of Actions Germany France Japan 6. The End of a Cycle Anti-Terrorist Policies The United States Japan France Germany Italy A Farewell to Arms Germany Italy France 7. Conclusion to Part 1 Part 2 Civil Disobedience Graeme Hayes and Sylvie Ollitrault 8. Introduction to Part 2: Civil Disobedience in Perspective 9. Definitions, Dynamics, Developments Theorising Civil Disobedience Conscience and collective action, direct and indirect disobedience 'Performative' Civil Disobedience Direct and indirect disobedience reconsidered Conceptual Distinctions in Historical Overview Quakerism Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Satyagraha according to Gandhi The US Civil Rights Movement (1955-65) Conclusion 10. Contemporary Movements: Genealogies and Justifications Civil Disobedience in France The cultural importance of manifestoes Conscientious objection and anti-militarism From Larzac to Notre Dame des Landes Civil Disobedience and Urgency Action and emergency Urgency and environmental disobedience Urgency and undocumented migrants Disobedience and neo-liberal globalization Global Justice Professional identities Conclusion 11. Repertoires of Civil Disobedience The Constraints of Illegal Action Disobedience as activist technique Civil Disobedience and Media Representation Greenpeace, reporters of their own action Criminal Prosecution Trials as political arenas Civil disobedience and prosecution: the case of the GANVA Networks of Commitment Conclusion 12. Negotiating the Boundaries of Violence and Non-Violence Property Destruction Ploughshares Seeds of Hope 'Pro-life' direct action The Effects of Direct Action The INRA Colmar crop destruction Anti-abortion clinic activism Staging Action Care and symbolism in action The Relational Logic of Harms The Semantic Construction of the Civic Conclusion 13. Conclusion to Part 2 Biographical notes Germany France Italy The United States Japan, Bibliography Endnotes, Index.
