ABSTRACT
The methods of nonviolent action are simply its most basic component parts, the kinds of actions that people choose or find themselves doing when they take part in nonviolent conflict. Other terms could be used, such as forms or types of nonviolent action, but the concept of methods communicates the idea that groups use these means in order to accomplish something. They might be letting off steam, raising an issue publicly, making an appeal, bringing some sort of pressure to bear, imposing a cost on their adversary, or something similar. In any case, it is the methods that make up the discrete, separate behaviors that go together to compose nonviolent action. (The discussion and classification here follows Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, entry 2343).
