| Non-violence as a mechanism of political change has been applied with differing degrees of success. While such struggles have born fruit in some instances, they have faltered in others. Using Most Similar Systems Design, this study examines factors underpinning the variability in outcomes with the aim of establishing possible constant(s) that are necessary for a successful non-violent campaign, through the application of Schock's analytical framework of unarmed insurrections and Sharp's theoretical requirements for non-violence. Aspects of comparison include: political, economic and systemic factors affecting apartheid South Africa and the Occupied Territories of Israel/Palestine and how their interplay accounted for the differential nature of their outcomes. Results reveal that interdependence-referring to a dynamic of being mutually responsible to and dependent on others in local, national, and systemic spheres was necessary but not a sufficient variable. It is the degree to which the interplay of the national and systemic variables was able to affect the cost of contention that determined policy actions of the parties. |
