Resisting war: how communities protect themselves

"In civil conflicts around the world, unarmed civilians take enormous risks to protect themselves and confront heavily armed combatants. This is not just counterintuitive - it is extraordinary. In this book, Oliver Kaplan explores cases from Colombia, with extensions to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and the Philippines, to show how and why civilians influence armed actors and limit violence. Based on fieldwork and statistical analysis, the book explains how local social organization and cohesion enable both covert and overt nonviolent strategies, including avoidance, cultures of peace, dispute resolution, deception, protest, and negotiation. These 'autonomy' strategies help civilians retain their agency and avoid becoming helpless victims by limiting the inroads of armed groups"--

Cover; Half-title ; Title page ; Copyright information ; Dedication ; Table of contents ; List of Figures ; List of Tables ; Preface and Acknowledgments ; List of Abbreviations ; 1 Introduction: Civilian Autonomy in Civil War ; The Argument.

Colombian Social Organizations as Platforms for Civilian Autonomy Scope of the Argument ; Current Perspectives on Civilians and Civil Wars ; The Literature on Civil Wars ; The Literature on Civilian Institutions ; The Literature on ''Peace Communities'' and Civilian Autonomy.

Research Design and Methods Plan of the Book ; 2 A Theory of Civilian Decision-Making in Civil War ; The Advantages of Community Cohesion and Organization ; Challenges to Collective Action ; Social Capital and Pathways to Organization ; The Added Value of Cooperation and Organizations.

Civilians' Choices and Pathways to Autonomy Civilian Selection of Strategic Alignments ; Civilians' Selection of Bundles of Tactics to Reduce Violence and Maintain Autonomy ; Explaining Violence: Conditions for De Facto Autonomy ; Internal Armed Group Characteristics.

Resource Bases and Dependence on Civilians Situational Factors ; The Sensitivities to Civilians of Some Archetypal Armed…