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Article
Grassroots and Gewaltfreie Aktionen: A Study of Mass Mobilization Strategies in the West German Peace Movement
Journal of Peace Research (1986)
  • Joyce Marie Mushaben, University of Missouri–St. Louis
Abstract
The West German peace movement of the eighties has been subject to many of the 'ebbs and flows' cha racteristic of protest movements of the late sixties and early seventies, with one important exception. In contrast to the more doctrinaire Marxist/socialist orientations evinced by those earlier movements, the mobilization against the deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles has been grounded in sincere ef forts on the part of core activists to develop a German tradition of non-violence and civil disobedience. The author presents a catalogue of strategies employed by movement participants since the pro mulgation of the 1979 NATO double-track decision, divided into the subcategories of consciousness- raising or 'mobilization' activities, and direct action or 'escalation' activities. The extensive but by no means comprehensive list of possible protest actions seeks to maximize the opportunities for participa tion and to intensify one's personal identification with the movement at the grassroots level. Even though they have proved unsuccessful in blocking additional theater nuclear deployments, peace pro testers are judged to have contributed significantly to the 'democratization' of postwar German society.
Publication Date
June 1, 1986
DOI
10.1177/002234338602300205
Citation Information
Joyce Marie Mushaben. "Grassroots and Gewaltfreie Aktionen: A Study of Mass Mobilization Strategies in the West German Peace Movement" Journal of Peace Research Vol. 23 Iss. 2 (1986) p. 141 - 154
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joyce-mushaben/40/