num_pages: 368
description: Elliot Zashin's Berkley-born involvement in nonviolent civil disobedience has undergone frequent reconsideration with the civil rights, free speech, and antiwar movements; the assassination of Martin Luther King; and the debacle of the Poor People's campaign. Nevertheless, Zashin has managed to preserve his nonviolent stance. Beginning with a survey of the historical and theoretical background of civil disobedience that covers the political philosophy of such thinkers as Hobbes, Locke, and Jefferson. Professor Zashin proceeds to relate civil disobedience to liberal-democratic theory and practice. He then asserts and advocates the legitimacy of civil disobedience within the American Political system as a tactic that "enables the basically allegiant citizen to continue his struggle for change where previously the failure of conventional techniques left him no alternative but grudging acquiescence." He also evaluates the limitations of civil disobedience within our system, and provides an explanation of the growing recourse to violence as a technique of protest.
language: English
title: Civil Disobedience and Democracy
titlecomplete: Civil Disobedience and Democracy
publisher: Free Press