Author: Jamila Raqib | Journal of Democracy

Jamila Raqib is executive director of the Albert Einstein Institution and a specialist in the study and practice of strategic nonviolent action. Her current work focuses on how authoritarian regimes and resistance movements adapt, and on translating emerging knowledge into trainings and resources for practitioners.

October 2026, Volume 37, Issue 4

Does Nonviolent Action Still Work?

Breza Race Maksimovic
Jamila Raqib

Mass movements topple dictators but struggle to secure democracy afterward. The theory of nonviolent struggle is not broken; it is out of date. Regimes have adapted their repression—movements must now adapt their strategies.