Civilian-based Defence Put to the Test - Current Issues and Practical Challenges

"Social defence" (or civilian-based defence) is a concept of nonviolent resistance in the event of internal revolts or wars of aggression. It involves organised and trained citizens confronting organised military actors by applying nonviolent methods to force the opposing party to give up. The declared aim of social defence is to protect social institutions and infrastructures and to preserve life, democratic and self- determined ways of life and the necessities of life without surrendering to an attacker. Social defence thus stands in the tradition of the practice of revolutionary struggles, nonviolent resistance, social movements and civil campaigns.

The conference aims to revive the research and discussion around social (civilian-based) defence. It will look at the state of the art of the research on social defence and civil resistance.