Erica Chenoweth
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Erica Chenoweth (born April 22, 1980) is an American
political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
, professor of public policy at the
Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
and the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...
. They are known for their research work on
nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...
movements.


Education

Erica Chenoweth received their B.A. at the
University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...
, followed by an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
. They previously taught at
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
until 2012 and completed postdoctoral fellowships at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and the
University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
. Chenoweth joined the University of Denver faculty in 2012, and the Harvard faculty in 2018.


Career

Between 2012 and 2018, Erica Chenoweth was professor at the
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
. They were a faculty member and
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
program co-director at the
Josef Korbel School of International Studies The Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver is a professional school of international affairs offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. It is named in honor of the founding dean, Josef Korbel, father ...
. They also directed the university's Program on Terrorism and Insurgency Research. They were also a researcher at the
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; ) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers led by Johan Galtung, who was ...
. Since 2018, Chenoweth has been a professor of public policy at the
Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
and the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...
of
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.


Work

Together with Maria J. Stephan, who was then at the U.S. Department of State, Chenoweth co-wrote the book ''Why Civil Resistance Works''. Chenoweth and Stephan organized an international team of scholars in identifying all the major violent and nonviolent governmental change efforts of the twentieth century. They translated the results into a theory of civil resistance and its success rate for political change compared to violent resistance. Their team compared over 200 violent revolutions and over 100 nonviolent campaigns. Their data shows that 26% of the violent revolutions were successful, while 53% of the nonviolent campaigns succeeded. Moreover, looking at change in democracy ( Polity IV scores) suggest that nonviolence promotes democracy while violence promotes tyranny. In the research data set, every campaign that got active participation from at least 3.5 percent of the population succeeded, and many succeeded with less.. All the campaigns that achieved that threshold were nonviolent; no violent campaign achieved that threshold. Their research work on
nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...
inspired the movement
Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a UK-founded global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and ...
.. In their 2020 essay, ''The Future of Nonviolent Resistance'', Chenoweth argued that nonviolent protest movements in the 2010s were more common than in previous decades but statistically showed less effectiveness compared to earlier movements. Chenoweth listed the four factors of successful movements that they judged to have been less common in the 2010s movements as: "careful planning, organization, training, and coalition-building prior to mass mobilization" as opposed to protests occurring first; momentum in "grow ngin size and diversity" and using techniques such as strikes and
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...
; inclusion of a non-internet component to organising; and "strategies for maintaining unity and discipline" in rejecting the use of violent tactics. Their point of view was optimistic about the future of protest movements, stating that protests during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
were "updating and renewing the outdated playbook" of "rely ngexclusively on protest" and instead "building resilient coalitions with a greater capacity for bringing about lasting transformation." As of January 2025, Chenoweth serves as director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard's
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, formerly known as the Ash Institute, was established in 2003 and is part of the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Center's miss ...
.


Awards

In 2012, ''Why Civil Resistance Works'' won the American Political Science Association's Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for "the best book published in the U.S. during the previous calendar year on government, politics, or international affairs." Chenoweth, along with Stephan, also won the 2013
University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...
Grawemeyer Award The Grawemeyer Awards () are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology. The religion awa ...
for Ideas for Improving the World Order. Past winners of this award include
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
and
Robert Keohane Robert Owen Keohane (born October 3, 1941) is an American political scientist working in the fields of international relations and international political economy. Following the publication of his influential book '' After Hegemony'' (1984), he h ...
. In December 2013, ''
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'' named Chenoweth one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of the year "for proving
Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...
right," noting their work on providing evidence for the efficacy of nonviolent political movements. In 2013, Erica also won the Karl Deutsch Award (International Relations) for being "judged to have made the most significant contribution to the study of International Relations and Peace Research by the means of publication." Chenoweth was also awarded the
International Studies Association The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of International relations, international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Con ...
award for "Best Group Blog of the Year" for the blo
Violence @ a Glance
which they founded with Barbara F. Walter.


Publications


Books

* '' Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2021. * '' Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict'' (2010) * . * ''On Revolutions: Unruly Politics in the Contemporary World'' (2022)


Articles

* The resistance is alive and well – and our research shows it, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', March 28, 2025 (co--authored with Jeremy Pressman and Soha Hammam) * The Death and Life of Terrorist Networks, ''
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
'', October 5, 2020 (co-authored with Christopher Blair, Michael C. Horowitz, Evan Perkoski, and Philip B. K. Potter) Ukrainian translation: * . *


References


External links


Faculty page, Harvard University

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chenoweth, Erica 1980 births Living people American political scientists American women political scientists 21st-century American academics 21st-century American women academics American international relations scholars Harvard Kennedy School faculty Josef Korbel School of International Studies people Nonviolence University of Colorado alumni University of Dayton alumni University of Denver faculty Wesleyan University faculty