passive resistance

noun

1. opposition to a government or to specific governmental laws by the use of noncooperation and other nonviolent methods, as economic boycotts and protest marches.

noun

1. resistance to a government, law, etc, made without violence, as by fasting, demonstrating peacefully, or refusing to cooperate

A technique of demonstrating opposition to a government’s activities simply by not cooperating with them. It is particularly associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who opposed violent revolution in his own country’s fight for independence. (Compare civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance.)