Erica Chenoweth

Pro-Democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

In case helpful, wrote this in 2022 reviewing insights from some of those cases and laying out an assessment of US context. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Many groups in the US are focused on preventing the further rise of authoritarian forces by raising alarms about authoritarian power-grabs in key states; by bui

papers.ssrn.com

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www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/o...

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

Apartheid South Africa, Pinochet's Chile, and the Jim Crow South were fascist / white supremacist regimes that were deposed through mass nonviolent movements. These movements ultimately unified the opposition against autocracy--something that didn't happen in most 1930s cases in Europe.

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Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth, Elizabeth Saunders, Richard F. Catalano , and 4 more Erica Chenoweth, Elizabeth Saunders, Richard F. Catalano, Roger Scott, W. Andy Knight, Gerald Friedman, Alexander Woywodt

The Tennessee Holler

@thetnholler.bsky.social

ANCHORAGE…

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Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth, Manisha Sinha

Michelle Goldberg

@michellegoldberg.bsky.social

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Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth, Matthijs Rooduijn, Andreas M. Wüst , and 1 more Erica Chenoweth, Matthijs Rooduijn, Andreas M. Wüst, Federica Genovese

Claes de Vreese

@claesdevreese.bsky.social

Science for democracy. Much needed. Powerful @science.org editorial by @gretchentg.bsky.social & @chenoweth.bsky.social

“The ability to tell the truth, especially when it does not suit any particularly partisan aims, is an essential prerequisite for a free society”

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Scientists’ role in defending democracy

The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...

www.science.org

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by Erica Chenoweth — Reposted by: Cas Mudde, Anna O. Law, Matthew Bunn , and 1 more Cas Mudde, Anna O. Law, Matthew Bunn, Anita Gohdes

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

Privileged to write this editorial with @gretchentg.bsky.social of @ucs.org in @science.org: "Scientists’ role in defending democracy." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A red quotation mark graphic, followed by bold text excerpted from an August 14th Science magazine editorial by Gretchen Goldman and Erica Chenoweth, saying "The ability to tell the truth, especially when it does not suit any particular partisan aims, is an essential prerequisite for a free society."

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by Ryan Enos — Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth, Anna O. Law, Nancy Kanwisher , and 2 more Erica Chenoweth, Anna O. Law, Nancy Kanwisher, David M. Farrell, Efrén O. Pérez

View post

Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth

Waging Nonviolence

@wagingnonviolence.org

Washington, D.C. residents’ rapid response to Trump's National Guard deployment is a masterclass in how to prepare for crises and fight authoritarianism.

Free DC models effective resistance to Trump’s takeover

DC residents’ rapid response to Trump's National Guard deployment is a masterclass in how to prepare for crises and fight authoritarianism.

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by Erica Chenoweth — Reposted by: Erica Chenoweth, Jan W. Mueller, John Drury , and 6 more Erica Chenoweth, Jan W. Mueller, John Drury, Rosemary A. Joyce, Ryan Enos, Henry Farrell, Mark Rice, Holland, Stephen Pimpare

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

Here is the chart showing the growth of reported protest over time, 2025 vs. 2017, referenced in the piece below.

Line chart showing a steep blue line indicating the growth of the number of protests in 2015 over time, compared with a green line showing a more modest growth of the number of protests in 2017.

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Crowd Counting Consortium – Ash Center

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

And as always, if you think we’re missing a record, you can scroll down on this page and submit it here:

Publicly available data on political crowds in the United States, including marches, protests, demonstrations, riots, and other actions.

ash.harvard.edu

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Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

More from our team soon. Meanwhile, the data are available here:

dataverse.harvard.edu

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Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

Two caveats: (a) our data collection has improved over time, but we don’t think that’s explaining most of the growth across years; (b) the political conditions under which we are collecting data are not identical across years; more on the latter point here:

Protests of Trump may not look like the mass marches in 2017, but they're far more numerous and frequent — and also becoming more strategic.

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One Million Rising — No Kings

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

5. Other signs of durability & commitment during this period include historic turnout at the One Million Rising online trainings, the first of which on 7/16 had over 130,000 sign-ups. This was probably the largest nonviolence training in U.S. history.

www.nokings.org

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Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

4. Consistent with our past reporting, 2025 continues to see far more protests than were recorded at this time in 2017—a trend that continues through at least the end of July. This reinforces the sense of a growing & durable pro-democracy movement at the grassroots.

Protests of Trump may not look like the mass marches in 2017, but they're far more numerous and frequent — and also becoming more strategic.

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American Spring? How nonviolent protest in the US is accelerating

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

3. Over 99.5% of reported protests had no injuries or property damage, with the latter reported in only 10 locations (just under 0.5%). As we’ve reported before, this is an unprecedentedly tiny fraction for a movement of this size and geographic dispersion.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed 2017 in size, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful.

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Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

2. No Kings was comparable in scale to the Women’s March, albeit across far more locations. The Women’s March involved actions in over 650 locations, while No Kings saw events in over 2150 as many locations, with events organized in big cities, small towns and places in between.

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New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

1. No Kings was likely the 2nd-largest single day demonstration since Trump took office in 2017. We estimate that between 2m and 4.8m people participated, making its turnout comparable to that of the 2017 Women’s March (between 3.2m and 5.3m people).

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by Erica Chenoweth — Reposted by: Anna O. Law, David Brady, Egypt , and 2 more Anna O. Law, David Brady, Egypt, Naazneen H. Barma, Juliet Johnson

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has finalized our participation estimates for No Kings Day on 6/14. Here are five key takeaways🧵:

The historic number of No Kings protesters and their expansive geographic spread are signs of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement.

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Crowd Counting Consortium – Ash Center

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

And as always, if you think we’re missing a record, you can scroll down on this page and submit it here: ash.harvard.edu/programs/cro...

Publicly available data on political crowds in the United States, including marches, protests, demonstrations, riots, and other actions.

ash.harvard.edu

3

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

More from our team soon. Meanwhile, the data are available here: dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/cr...

dataverse.harvard.edu

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

Two caveats: (a) our data collection has improved over time, but we don’t think that’s explaining most of the growth across years; (b) the political conditions under which we are collecting data are not identical across years; more on the latter point here: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/03/resi...).

Protests of Trump may not look like the mass marches in 2017, but they're far more numerous and frequent — and also becoming more strategic.

One Million Rising — No Kings

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

5. Other signs of durability & commitment during this period include historic turnout at the One Million Rising online trainings, the first of which on July 16 had over 130,000 sign-ups. This was probably the largest nonviolence training in U.S. history www.nokings.org/rise.

www.nokings.org

1 2

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

4. Consistent with our past reporting, 2025 has seen far more protests than were recorded at this time in 2017—a trend that continues through at least the end of July. This reinforces the sense of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement at the grassroots. wagingnonviolence.org/2025/03/resi...

Protests of Trump may not look like the mass marches in 2017, but they're far more numerous and frequent — and also becoming more strategic.

American Spring? How nonviolent protest in the US is accelerating

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

3. Over 99.5% of reported protests had no injuries or property damage, with the latter reported in only 10 locations (just under 0.5%). As we’ve reported before, this is an unprecedentedly tiny fraction for a movement of this size & geographic dispersion. wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer...

Contrary to conventional wisdom, anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed 2017 in size, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful.

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

2. No Kings was comparable in scale to the Women’s March, albeit across far more locations. The Women’s March involved actions in over 650 locations, while No Kings saw events in over 2150 as many locations, with events organized in big cities, small towns and places in between.

Erica Chenoweth

@chenoweth.bsky.social

1. No Kings was likely the 2nd-largest single day demonstration since Trump took office in 2017. We estimate that between 2m and 4.8m people participated, making its turnout comparable to that of the 2017 Women’s March (between 3.2m and 5.3m people).