*Breaking Laws: Violence and Civil Disobedience in Protest* questions the complex relationship between social movements and violence through two contrasted lenses; first through the short-lived radical left wing post ’68 revolutionary violence, and secondly in the present diffusion of civil disobedience actions, often at the border between non-violence and violence. This book shows how and why violence occurs or does not, and what different meanings it can take. The short-lived extreme left revolutionary groups that grew out of May ’68 and the opposition to the Vietnam War (such as the German Red Army Faction, the Italian Red Brigades, and the Japanese Red Army) are without any doubt on the violent side. More ambiguous are the burgeoning contemporary forms of "civil" disobedience, breaking the law with the aim of changing it. In theory, these efforts are associated with non-violence and self-restraint. In practice, the line is more difficult to trace, as much depends on how political players define and frame non-violence and political legitimacy.

[Isabelle Sommier](https://www.pantheonsorbonne.fr/unites-de-recherche/crps/membres/chercheurs-et-enseignants-chercheurs-titulaires/sommier-isabelle/) is Full Professor of Political Sociology at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, former director of the CRPS (Centre de recherches politiques de la Sorbonne) and currently Deputy Director of the CESSP (Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique, a fusion between CRPS and CSE Bourdieu institute). She has published on the theory of social movements, political violence, radicalization and terrorism.[Graeme Hayes](https://www2.aston.ac.uk/lss/staff-directory/hayesg) is Reader in Political Sociology at Aston University, UK. He is joint Editor of Environmental Politics and Consulting Editor of Social Movement Studies, and has published widely on non-violent action, environmental movements, and protest traditions.[Sylvie Ollitrault](http://www.arenes.eu/fiche-membres/?uid=41&n=Sylvie-Ollitrault) is Senior researcher at CNRS-France, Rennes University. She has published on French environmental movements, NGO action and protest movement. She is involved in numerous academic networks (AFSPIPSA-ECPR) on Green movements.

Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of Abbreviations, Organizations, and PartiesIntroduction to Breaking LawsPart 1Revolutionary Violence: Experiences of Armed Struggle in France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United StatesIsabelle SommierTranslated by Marina Urquidi1. Introduction to Part 1: Revolutionary Violence in Context2. A Subject ConcealedViolence and Social Movements: Fragmented Analytic TraditionsDistinguishing Terrorism and Revolutionary ViolenceThe Silence Surrounding 1968The '1968 years', a cycle of protest3. A Revolutionary Period?The International ContextThe Student RevoltsThe United StatesJapanGermanyFrance and ItalyThe Generational Dimension of RevoltThe Growth of the Extreme LeftThe United StatesJapanGermanyFranceItalyThe Autonomous Movement4. Radicalization ProcessesRepression and Counter-MovementsGermanyItalyJapanThe United StatesCompetition and Mutual InfluencesThe United StatesItalyJapanFranceSocial IsolationGermanyHigh-Risk Commitment and the Logics of Clandestine Action5. Strategies of ViolencePropaganda of the DeedThe United StatesJapanFranceResistance and Urban Guerrilla WarfareGermanyItalyThe Insurrectionary Model: Taking the Attack to the Heart of the StateGermanyAnti-Imperialism and the Transnationalization of ActionsGermanyFranceJapan6. The End of a CycleAnti-Terrorist PoliciesThe United StatesJapanFranceGermanyItalyA Farewell to Arms GermanyItalyFrance7. Conclusion to Part 1Part 2Civil DisobedienceGraeme Hayes and Sylvie Ollitrault8. Introduction to Part 2: Civil Disobedience in Perspective9. Definitions, Dynamics, DevelopmentsTheorising Civil DisobedienceConscience and collective action, direct and indirect disobedience'Performative' Civil Disobedience Direct and indirect disobedience reconsideredConceptual Distinctions in Historical OverviewQuakerismHenry David Thoreau (1817-1862)Satyagraha according to GandhiThe US Civil Rights Movement (1955-65)Conclusion10. Contemporary Movements: Genealogies and JustificationsCivil Disobedience in FranceThe cultural importance of manifestoesConscientious objection and anti-militarismFrom Larzac to Notre Dame des LandesCivil Disobedience and Urgency Action and emergencyUrgency and environmental disobedienceUrgency and undocumented migrantsDisobedience and neo-liberal globalizationGlobal JusticeProfessional identitiesConclusion11. Repertoires of Civil DisobedienceThe Constraints of Illegal ActionDisobedience as activist techniqueCivil Disobedience and Media RepresentationGreenpeace, reporters of their own actionCriminal ProsecutionTrials as political arenasCivil disobedience and prosecution: the case of the GANVANetworks of CommitmentConclusion12. Negotiating the Boundaries of Violence and Non-ViolenceProperty DestructionPloughshares Seeds of Hope'Pro-life' direct actionThe Effects of Direct ActionThe INRA Colmar crop destructionAnti-abortion clinic activismStaging ActionCare and symbolism in actionThe Relational Logic of HarmsThe Semantic Construction of the CivicConclusion13. Conclusion to Part 2Biographical notesGermanyFranceItalyThe United StatesJapanBibliographyEndnotesIndex