Maria Stephan

Stephan is from Vermont, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Boston College.{{cite web |url=https://www.usip.org/people/maria-j-stephan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310195544/https://www.usip.org/people/maria-j-stephan |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 March 2017 |title=Maria J. Stephan |publisher=United States Institute of Peace |access-date=10 April 2020}} She then attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she earned a Master of Arts degree in Law and Diplomacy and Doctor of Philosophy. During her graduate education she was the recipient of a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which is a graduate fellowship dedicated to public service. She was also a J. William Fulbright Scholar.

Before working with the United States Institute of Peace, Stephan worked at the United States Department of State where she was the lead foreign affairs officer for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations,{{cite web |url=http://grawemeyer.org/pair-win-world-order-prize-for-civil-resistance-study/ |title=Pair win world order prize for civil resistance study |publisher=Grawemeyer Awards |date=26 November 2012 |access-date=10 April 2020}} and at NATO headquarters.

Together with Erica Chenoweth, Stephan wrote the 2010 book Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. The book studies the success rates of civil resistance efforts from 1900 to 2006, focusing on the major violent and nonviolent efforts to bring about regime change during that time.{{Cite news |author=David Robson |title=The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world |work=BBC |date=14 May 2019 |access-date=13 November 2019}} By comparing the success rates of 323 violent and nonviolent campaigns, Stephan and Chenoweth demonstrate that only 26% of violent revolutions were successful, whereas 53% of nonviolent campaigns were successful.{{cite web|title=Success of Nonviolent Revolution|url=http://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2012/11/06/success-nonviolent-revolution|work=Academic Minute|publisher=Inside Higher Ed|accessdate=10 April 2020}} Of the 25 largest movements they studied, 20 were nonviolent, and they found that nonviolent movements attracted four times as many participants on average than violent movements. They also demonstrated that nonviolent movements tended to precede the development of more democratic regimes than violent movements.{{cite journal |first=Jason |last=Rineheart |title=Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=1 March 2012}}{{cite journal |first=Robert Allen |last=Kezer |title=Erica Chenoweth & Maria J. Stephan (2011). Why civil resistance works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. New York: Columbia University Press |journal=Conflict & Communication Online |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=1 April 2012}}

The authors coined a rule about the level of participation necessary for a movement to succeed, called the "3.5% rule": nearly every movement with active participation from at least 3.5% of the population succeeded.{{Cite news |author=Editorial |title=The Guardian view on Extinction Rebellion: numbers alone won’t create change |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/21/the-guardian-view-on-extinction-rebellion-numbers-alone-wont-create-change |work=The Guardian |date=21 October 2019 |access-date=10 April 2020}}{{Cite news |author=Erica Chenoweth |title=It may only take 3.5% of the population to topple a dictator – with civil resistance |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/01/worried-american-democracy-study-activist-techniques |work=The Guardian |date=1 February 2017 |access-date=13 November 2019}}. All of the campaigns that achieved that threshold were nonviolent.{{cite web|last1=Chenoweth|first1=Erica|title=My Talk at TEDxBoulder: Civil Resistance and the "3.5% Rule"|url=https://rationalinsurgent.com/2013/11/04/my-talk-at-tedxboulder-civil-resistance-and-the-3-5-rule/|website=RationalInsurgent.org|publisher=Rational Insurgent|accessdate=2016-10-10|date=2013-11-04}}

Why Civil Resistance Works won the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Prize from the American Political Science Association, which is awarded each year for "the best book on government, politics, or international affairs".{{cite web |url=https://www.apsanet.org/PROGRAMS/APSA-Awards/Woodrow-Wilson-Foundation-Award |title=Woodrow Wilson Award |publisher=American Political Science Association |year=2020 |access-date=10 April 2020}} For Why Civil Resistance Works, Stephan and her coauthor Erica Chenoweth won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.{{cite web |url=http://grawemeyer.org/grawemeyer-celebration-to-feature-conversation-on-why-civil-resistance-works/ |title=Grawemeyer celebration to feature conversation on "Why Civil Resistance Works" |publisher=Grawemeyer Awards |date=21 October 2015 |access-date=10 April 2020}} In 2015 Stephan was the recipient of the inaugural Henry J. Leir Human Security Award, which is awarded by Institute for Human Security at Fletcher University for "outstanding Fletcher alumni who have made significant contributions to the scholarship and/or practice of human security".{{cite web | url=http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Institute-for-Human-Security/Human-Security-Award |title= Institute for Human Security Celebrates the Henry J. Leir Professorship in International Humanitarian Studies and the Inaugural Henry J. Leir Human Security Award | date= 2015 | publisher= The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University | location= Medford, MA, USA | accessdate= March 6, 2017 | archiveurl= https://archive.today/20170307042746/http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Institute-for-Human-Security/Human-Security-Award | archivedate= March 7, 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Maria J. Stephan (MALD '02, PhD '05) Receives Inaugural Henry J. Leir Human Security Award for Groundbreaking Scholarship in Civil Resistance and Nonviolent Conflict |url=http://fletcher.tufts.edu/News-and-Media/2015/09/22/Maria-Stephan-Fletcher-School-Henry-J-Leir-Human-Security-Award-2015 |publisher=The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University |location=Medford, MA, USA |accessdate=March 6, 2017 |date=September 22, 2015 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20170307043242/http://fletcher.tufts.edu/News-and-Media/2015/09/22/Maria-Stephan-Fletcher-School-Henry-J-Leir-Human-Security-Award-2015 |archivedate=March 7, 2017 |url-status=live }}

Stephan's work has been covered extensively in media outlets like The Globe and Mail,{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-want-to-effect-meaningful-change-remember-the-35-per-cent-rule/ |title=Want to effect meaningful change? Remember the 3.5-per-cent rule |date=4 October 2019 |work=The Globe and Mail |last=Besner |first=Linda |access-date=10 April 2020}} Vice,{{cite news |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xr-protest-climage-change-extinction-rebellion/ |title=If 3.5% of the US Gets on Board With Climate Protesting, Change Will Happen |date=7 October 2019 |work=Vice |last=Dembicki |first=Geoff |access-date=10 April 2020}} NPR,{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/08/21/342095367/why-civil-resistance-movements-work |title=Why Civil Resistance Movements Succeed |date=21 August 2014 |work=NPR |access-date=10 April 2020}} and Quartz.{{cite news |url=https://qz.com/india/1719365/gandhi-jayanti-on-october-2-is-a-reminder-to-reclaim-ahimsa/ |title=If we are naturally violent, why do armies spend so much on training to kill? |date=30 September 2019 |work=Quartz |last=Bakshi |first=Rajni |access-date=10 April 2020}}

• Civilian-based defense

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Category:American women social scientists

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