Based on interviews, original documents and media reports, this paper traces the emergence of the group called the “Nonviolence Movement in Lebanon” in the mid-1980s, during the country’s 1975-90 civil war. It argues that this group had a unique ambition and function in civil society in that it went beyond simple anti-war causes or socio-economic demands. Rather, it sought to introduce the principles, theories and methods of nonviolence – as they interpreted them – as a comprehensive ideological basis for civil society. The nonviolence movement organized nonviolence training workshops for individuals, associations and unions, focused on social and political rights, histories of nonviolent resistance, and techniques and strategies for nonviolent struggle. The Nonviolence Movement mobilized around protest methods and an ideology of basic civic rights and responsibilities rather than specific interest politics. This paper argued that such a focus enabled the Nonviolence Movement to form an unprecedented broad civil society coalition. In open calls and protest action, the Movement was joined by or participated alongside with civil society actors ranging from specific enterprise unions, via the Teachers’ Syndicate and the League of University Professors, to the Movement for the Handicapped and the Lebanese Women’s Council. Although short-lived, this coming together of different interests to protest the civil war and collapse of governance in unison, indicated the potential of civil society. The main mobilizing factor in the coalition in terms of sheer numbers of people was the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers (GCLW), and as the country’s most powerful union, it was also the most politicized. When the broad movement declined following a general strike and mass protests in November 1987, the blame was placed on the GCLW leadership for bowing to political pressure and reverting to pursuit of specific interests. Other civil society organizations conducted a similar retreat retreat to interest politics, however, and this tendency may be seen as a precursor to the post-war NGOization of Lebanese civil society.