Foreign hand: Help or hindrance?

Book review of The Role of External Support in Nonviolent Campaigns: Poisoned Chalice or Holy Grail?

What happens when a nonviolent campaign anchored in a particular country receives international support from celebrities, advocacy organisations, diaspora groups and foreign governments? How is this external assistance viewed and interpreted by various domestic actors? To what extent do the campaigners actually benefit from solidarity statements, funds, coverage in global media, and online hashtags? Can well-intentioned but poorly planned gestures from supporters in other parts of the world land locals in trouble? 

As you mull over these questions, and the famous “toolkit case” involving climate change activist Disha Annappa Ravi, read Erica Chenoweth and Maria J Stephan’s new monograph titled The