Hardy Merriman

Hardy Merriman is Director, Programs and Research for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.

He "has worked in the field of strategic nonviolent conflict since 2002. Prior to coming to ICNC, Mr. Merriman worked for three years with Dr. Gene Sharp at the Albert Einstein Institution (AEI) in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Merriman contributed a chapter to and edited Dr. Sharp’s latest book, Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential. While at AEI, Mr.Merriman also provided editorial support for several shorter publications, such as There are Realistic Alternatives and The Anti-Coup.

"In addition to his work in the field of strategic nonviolent conflict, Mr. Merriman has worked as a teacher in Zimbabwe, done field research in India and Tibet, and managed an electoral campaign for a mayor in the Seattle, Washington area." 

In 2000, Merriman "was an advance planner for Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for the New York U.S. Senate seat. Merriman also helped get out the vote at Rodham Clinton's New York City headquarters during election week." The same article notes that "Merriman got his first real taste of political life as an intern in an environmental economic think tank on Capital Hill during summer 1999, and then as an aide in the press office of Senator John Kerry, Democrat from Massachusetts, during last Winter Term."

"I am vice president and director of content development at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and I also do some independent consulting. I have worked in the field of civil resistance since 2002.  I study, present, and write about grassroots movements nonviolently fighting for human rights and political change around the world.  I lead workshops for activists and organizers in these movements; speak about these movements with academics, journalists, and members of NGOs; and develop resources for practitioners and researchers in the field of nonviolent conflict.  I also direct the James Lawson Institute, an eight-day intensive program for North American organizers and activists focusing on nonviolent civil resistance.

"Prior to being vice president and director of content development at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), I was a senior advisor from 2007-2012 and director of programs and research at ICNC from 2005-2007. From 2002-2005, I worked at the Albert Einstein Institution. I have contributed to the books Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential (2005) by Gene Sharp and Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization, and Governance in the Middle East (2010) by Maria Stephan (ed.).  I have also written about the role of nonviolent action in countering terrorism and co-authored A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle, a training curriculum for activists.  For a full publication list, click here.

"I am also an advisor to the Digital Activism Research Project and on the board of advisors of the War Prevention Initiative." 

Affiliations

 * Advisory Board, Meta-Activism Project

==SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
 * Hardy Merriman, “Theory and Dynamics of Civil Resistance” in Maria Stephan (ed.), Civil Resistance in the Middle East: Popular Struggle, Democratization, and Governance, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
 * Hardy Merriman and Jack DuVall, “Dissolving Terrorism at Its Roots”, in Summy, Ralph and Senthil Ram (eds.), Nonviolence: An Alternative for Countering Global Terror(ism), Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2007
 * Hardy Merriman, “California Grape Workers’ Strike and Boycott–1965-1970” in Sharp, Gene, Waging Nonviolent Struggle: 20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential, Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 2005
 * Srdja Popovic, Slobodan Djinovic, Andrej Milivojevic, Hardy Merriman, and Ivan Marovic, CANVAS Core Curriculum: A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle, Belgrade, Serbia: Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), 2007.