Matthew Cebul
Lead Research Fellow for the Nonviolent Action Lab, AY2025-2026
Nonviolent Action Lab
Understanding how nonviolent action can achieve democratic aims.
Related Programs
Crowd Counting Consortium, Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes Data Project, Women in Resistance Data Project
Related Topics
Nonviolent resistance movements defended democratic values and institutions throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. However, the trend seems to have shifted. Over the past decade, authoritarian backsliding has occurred across the globe, and mass movements demanding democracy have been defeated in about 90% of cases since 2010.
The Nonviolent Action Lab is an innovation hub for research on advancing democracy worldwide through civil resistance. The Lab produces and disseminates up-to-date knowledge on nonviolent action, how it works, global trends in success and failure, trends in political violence and state repression, and analysis of these trends.
“Authoritarianism is winning — particularly against pro-democracy movements. Movements need a new playbook for responding to these developments![]()
Erica Chenoweth
Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment
AI and Democracy Movements Project
The AI and Democracy Movements Project explores the impacts of AI on the strategy, operations, and outcomes of pro-democratic social movements.
Now Streaming: Nonviolent Action Lab Podcast
The new Nonviolent Action Lab Podcast brings you the latest research, insights, and ideas on how nonviolent action can — or sometimes fails — to transform injustice. Each week, Nonviolent Action Lab’s Jay Ulfelder welcomes experts from the field, scholars, organizers, and advocates to discuss nonviolent movements around the world. Find new episodes listed below, via Simplecast, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Meet the Team
Erica Chenoweth
Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment
Cassy Dorff
Research Fellow, November 2025-April 2026
Freddy Guevara
Democracy Visiting Fellow, AY2024-2026
Soha Hammam
Research Project Manager, Nonviolent Action Lab
Jonathan Jayes-Green
Democracy Visiting Fellow, AY2024-2026
Jie (Jason) Lian
Democracy Visiting Fellow, Reimagining Democracy Program, AY2024-2025
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Nonviolent Action Lab, AY2025-2026
David Meyer
Senior Fellow, AY2025-2026
Jeremy Pressman
Senior Research Fellow, AY2025-2026
Amelia Roskin-Frazee
Predoctoral Fellow, AY2025-2026
Christopher Shay
Research Associate, Crowd Counting Consortium
Upcoming Events
The Breakdown with Erica Chenoweth and Steve Levitsky
Online Event
11:00 am – 12:00 pm EDT
The latest news, resources, and research
Commentary
Crowd Counting Consortium: Monthly Review – February 2021
So far, we’ve recorded 980 protest events in the U.S. in February 2021, with about 29,000 to 35,000 reported participants in them.
Commentary
Crowd Counting Consortium: Dude, Where’s My Protest?
Commentary
Crowd Counting Consortium: Contours of the George Floyd Uprising
Just how large and broad was that wave of protests after the death of George Floyd? How destructive was it? And how did police and right-wing counter-protesters respond to it?
Commentary
Crowd Counting Consortium: Trump-Era Themes in U.S. Protests
Under the Trump administration, what did Americans protest about?
Article
The science of contemporary street protest: New efforts in the United States
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, there has been substantial and ongoing protest against the Administration. Street demonstrations are some of the most visible forms of opposition to the Administration and its policies. This article reviews the two most central methods for studying street protest on a large scale: building comprehensive event databases and conducting field surveys of participants at demonstrations.