Ever since Gandhi, non-violent protest seems to be an especially powerful tool for the erosion of a state's force's loyalty and morale IF the regime is already overdue.

It's probably neither a threat nor an opportunity, for it's merely the final push over the edge for regimes which are bound to fail soon anyway.


(This was of course focusing on the special case of non-violent protests for revolution. Non-violent protests for less ambitious objectives have a very different nature.)