Jonathan Pinckney is a Senior Researcher with the Program on Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace, where he conducts research on nonviolent action, peacebuilding, and democratization. He is the author of the book From Dissent to Democracy: The Promise and Peril of Civil Resistance Transitions, from Oxford University Press, as well as a wide range of academic and general audience publications. He received his PhD in 2018 from the University of Denver. He was a 2012 recipient of the Sie Cheou-Kang Fellowship at the University of Denver, and a 2016 recipient of an ICNC PhD Fellowship. The opinions in this piece are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the United States Institute of Peace.