A policy of civil disobedience employing passive resistance, developed by Mohandas Gandhi in South Africa and widely used in India as a weapon against British rule. Frequently, campaigns of civil disobedience have degenerated into violence, but the method has had some success against liberal governments reluctant to use force. The technique continued to be employed in India and elsewhere after 1947, for example in Goa in 1955, when the satyagrahis were fired on and defeated.