This is a collection of the 13 essays making up the proceedings of the 2nd international working conference on violence and non-violent action in industrialized Societies held in Brussels on the March 24-26th, 1976.

1. Introduction 2. Two Approaches of Civilian Defence. Observations on the Development of the Civilian Defence Concept 3. Social and Political Conditions for the Expansion of the Non-violent Movement 4. Unarmed Defence for Western Europe? Observations on the Problems of European Socialism, Civilian Defence and Soviet Communism 5. Civil Power or Military Union? The European Community, a State in the Making 6. Through Non-violent Action in Intrasocietal Conflicts to Civilian Defence. Some Remarks on the Past and Future of the Research on Civilian Defence 7. Disarmament as a Non-violent Initiative. How People Learn to Want Civilian Defence, or the Long March Towards a Political Culture of Preparedness to Resistance 8. Theoretical Perspectives in Civilian Defence. An Issue in West German Peace Research 9. The Conditions of Non-violent Action 10. Civil Resistance and Swedish Defence Policy 11. Survey on the Discussion of Civilian Defence in Switzerland 12. A Terminological Make-up - The Ideas of Swiss Military Strategists about the Role and Meaning of Non-violent Actions of Resistance as Part of the Total Defence Conception 13. Some Notes