The OED defines “boycott” in its noun form as follows: “Withdrawal from social or commercial interaction or cooperation with a group, nation, person, etc., intended as a protest or punishment” and also “a refusal to buy certain goods or participate in a particular event, as a form of protest or punishment.” Also a verb, “boycott” is used to describe a non-violent tactic directed at inflicting economic loss, expressing principled outrage, and/or changing or ending practices considered harmful or unjust. Boycotts can refer to protests undertaken for a range of often overlapping ethical, social, political or environmental reasons: to change legislation; to challenge the legitimacy of nation states (including an occupying power); to counter corporate malfeasance; to protest racial, religious, ideological or ethnic groups or practices; to contest forms of repression; and to protest individuals with power. The term originated with the Irish Land League’s 1880 protest against Captain Charles C. Boycott, a British land agent. The League’s successful campaign to isolate Boycott received international attention (Collins 1993; Marlow 1973), and the word “boycott” came into usage, spreading quickly to other European languages including French (1880), German (1883), Russian (1891) and Dutch (1904) (OED). The term was later used retroactively to...