Ranges of Resistance: Terrain and the Incidence of Nonviolent Campaigns

We present the first analysis of the relationship between terrain and nonviolent civil resistance campaigns using cross-national data geocoded at the subnational level. We show that---unlike rugged terrain's well-established permissive effect on the incidence of civil wars---highly variable terrain is negatively associated with nonviolent resistance. We provide preliminary evidence that the causal mechanism underlying this relationship is the link between terrain and population density, a factor which is positively associated with the incidence of nonviolent campaigns. Physical geography is shaping politics through its influence on human geography.