'The Philosophy of Protest: Fighting for Justice without Going to War:'

Protest is a critical part of the contemporary political landscape. Despite the prevalence of protest as a real-world practice, most liberal political theory limits its focus on protest to ideal conditions. This book takes up the question of how to think about protest, from within the context of liberal political theory, in the face of serious, substantial, ongoing, and actual injustices—in short, a theory of protest for our world. What can or must protest include? What, if anything, must it avoid? Against much of the popular discourse, we defend the view that suitably constrained violent political protest is sometimes justified. Violent political protest is not simply revolution by any other name—it’s a last-ditch effort to remedy injustice without going to war.

Jennifer Kling is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Center for Legal Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Her research focuses on social and political philosophy, particularly issues in war and peace, self- and other-defense, international relations, protest, feminism, and philosophy of race. She started protesting at age 9 (via sending a letter to then-U.S. President Bill Clinton), and has continued fighting for justice in a variety of ways since then.