International Center on Nonviolent Conflict

International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) came to prominence promoting the new 'Postmodern Coups' in Yugoslavia and the former Baltic Soviet states. According to its website it "develops and encourages the use of civilian-based, nonmilitary strategies to establish and defend democracy and human rights worldwide" by providing "assistance in the training and deployment of field advisors, to deepen the conceptual knowledge and practical skills of applying nonviolent strategies in conflicts throughout the world where progress toward democracy and human rights is possible." The most significant nonviolent conflicts in the world today, which may lead to "regime changes," it reports, are occurring in Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Chinese Tibet, Belarus, Ukraine [now nearing completion], Palestine, Iran, and Cuba.

Principals

• Peter Ackerman – Chair
• Joanne Leedom-Ackerman – Wife of Peter Ackerman, and co-funder of ICNC.
• Jack DuVall – President
• Berel Rodal – Vice-Chair
• Shaazka Beyerle – VP
• Maria J. Stephan – Director, Educational Initiatives
• Kim Hedge – Programs & research (former)
• Hardy Merriman – Programs & research (2006)
• Stephen Zunes – Chair of the board of academic advisers

In 2007, their website also listed two new additions to their staff:

• Vanessa Ortiz, Director, Civic and Field Relations
• Althea Middleton-Detzner, Assistant Director, Programs and Research

Funding

In its website it states: "ICNC accepts no grants, contracts or funding of any kind from any government or government-related organization or from any other foundation, corporation or institution. It is funded entirely by the family philanthropy of the founding chair."[1] Clear enough, but there is no information on the amounts involved and on what it is spent on. Furthermore, while the funding of groups like Otpor ran in the millions from NED via USAID, one can't suggest that ICNC assistance to a group like Otpor didn't benefit from overall NED funding.

Regime Change Simulator

The Center along with commercial game developer Breakaway Ltd and media firm York Zimmerman Inc, invested $3 million to create "A Force More Powerful", a computer based strategy game intended to teach youth the use non-violent methods to influence government policies.

International Conference on Civil Resistance and Power Politics

In 2006, a conference was "organised jointly by the Centre for International Studies at Oxford University's Department of Politics and International Relations and the European Studies Centre at St Antony's College. It is generously funded by the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, Washington DC; the Zeit Foundation, Hamburg; and the Canadian government."

The conference was also sponsored by the USIP, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, British Academy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway.

For more details see International Conference on Civil Resistance and Power Politics

Affiliations

• The Arlington Institute
• Albert Einstein Institution
• National Endowment for Democracy
• United States Institute of Peace
• International Republican Institute

Resources, References and Contact

Contact

Website: www.nonviolent-conflict.org

Resources

• Jonathan Mowat, Coup d'etat in Disguise, GlobalResearch, 9 February 2005.
• Jonathan Mowat, "The new Gladio in action?: Ukrainian postmodern coup completes testing of new template", Online Journal, 19 March 2005. Contains an overview of ICNC and related organizations (they cross link, and share principals).
• Allan Madrid, "Gaming the Poor", Newsweek, 11 July 2006.
• Michael Barker, Force More Powerful, ZNet, 25 Feb. 2007.
• Michael Barker, A Force More Powerful: Promoting 'Democracy' through Civil Disobedience, State of Nature, Winter 2007.
• Michael Barker, 'False accusations and major leaps of logic', Green Left Review, 10 December 2007.