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Comment on this article   Mahatma Gandhi once claimed that nonviolence was the greatest power with which humankind had been endowed. Recognition of the power of nonviolent struggle has since gone well beyond the spiritual pacifists of the Gandhian tradition to encompass a wide range of social scientists who have recognized how Polish dockworkers, Filipina nuns, Serbian students and millions of other ordinary people have done what strategic alliances, armed guerrillas, and intergovernmental organizations could not, including bringing down some of the most entrenched dictatorships on the planet. The study of nonviolent struggle has become part of the international studies curriculum only recently, but world events have led an increasing number of scholars to recognize the importance of this phenomenon, leading to a dramatic increase in the scholarly literature over the past three decades. Gandhi was significant in the transformation of the study of nonviolence from individual acts of civil disobedience – as articulated by Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and other 19th century writers – to strategic civil resistance in which large numbers could participate to force social, economic and political change. Much has been written by and about Mohandas K. Gandhi concerning his campaigns in South Africa and India as well as his ideas. While Gandhi wrote only two books, the articles, talks, ... log in or subscribe to read full text