What term describes refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes as a peaceful form of political protest?

• A. Civil Disobedience
• B. Nonviolent Resistance
• C. Passive Resistance
• D. Civil Refusal

Answer: (A)

Civil disobedience is the deliberate, peaceful refusal to comply with particular laws or tax policies in order to protest injustice and push for change. It rests on the idea that breaking an unjust law in a public, nonviolent way can reveal its flaws and mobilize broader support for reform, while the protester willingly accepts the legal penalties that follow to demonstrate the seriousness of the issue. Think of Thoreau’s early writings, and later Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., who used this approach to challenge unjust systems without violence.

This term is the best fit because it directly describes disobeying laws as a method of protest, with a commitment to peaceful means. Nonviolent resistance is a broader umbrella that includes many tactics—rallies, boycotts, marches, sit-ins—that may not involve breaking laws. Passive resistance emphasizes noncooperation and may be less about openly breaking specific laws. Civil refusal is not a standard, widely used term for this practice.