Civil disobedience, and what else? Making space for uncivil forms of resistance
| Author | Erin R Pineda |
| Published date | 01 January 2021 |
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1474885119845063 |
| Subject Matter | Review Article |
Review Article EJPT
Civil disobedience, and
what else? Making space
for uncivil forms
of resistance
Erin R Pineda
Smith College, USA
Candice Delmas, A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience Should be Uncivil, Oxford University Press:
New York, 2018; 312 pp. $29.95, ISBN 9780190872199 (hardcover).
Abstract
Theorists of political obligation have long devoted special attention to civil disobedi-
ence, establishing its pride of place as an object of philosophical analysis, and as one of a
short list of exceptions to an otherwise binding obligation to obey the law. Yet all of this
attention to civil disobedience has left the broader terrain of resistance to injustice
relatively under-theorized. What other forms of action are justifiable – even required –
in the face of systemic injustice? Candice Delmas’ A Duty to Resist: When Disobedience
Should Be Uncivil offers an original and powerful defense of the idea that we have a duty
to resist, and that carrying out this duty may sometimes require going beyond civil
disobedience – engaging in forms of action that are evasive, shocking, violent, or oth-
erwise deemed “uncivil.” Building on a wealth of recent scholarship and a rich set of
examples, Delmas grounds the duty to resist in the same principles that political
philosophers routinely use to defend an obligation to obey the law: the natural duty
of justice, the principle of fair play, Samaritan duties to rescue others from peril, and the
associative duties of membership. In making room for uncivil forms of dissent, however,
I contend that Delmas ironically hollows out the category of civil disobedience, wed-
ding it too tightly to a principle of decorum, and isolating it from protest that exceeds
the boundaries of the communicative. Nevertheless, A Duty to Resist is an excellent –
and much needed – contribution to the literature on dissent and disobedience.
Corresponding author:
Erin R Pineda, Assistant Professor of Government, Smith College, Wright Hall 104, Northampton, MA 01063,
USA.
Email: epineda@smith.edu
European Journal of Political Theory
2021, Vol. 20(1) 157–164
!The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1474885119845063
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