From the perspective of co-intelligence, the essence of violence is domination, the imposition of one's will upon the behavior, circumstances and even consciousness of another. The essence of non-violence is partnership, the sharing of diversity, common ground, responsibility and destiny.
Nonviolence aims to evoke the spirit of partnership among the best parts of everyone involved.
Part of strategic nonviolence is the bottom-up enforcement of democracy. Individual non-violent activists become empowered by the realization that there can be no oppression without cooperation from the oppressed. At which point peer dialogue can begin. It is contrary to the spirit of nonviolence to dominate a former oppressor. The goal of nonviolent coercion is peerness, not domination.