Gandhi's Political Research Articles

Rethinking Political Elites' Mass‐Linkage Strategies: Lessons from the Study of Indira Gandhi's Political Habitus

AbstractIn this article, I critique available elite‐mass linkage theories that depict elites either as structurally determined or rational actors. Taking cues from Bourdieu's political field theory, I argue that elites' mass‐linkage strategies are a product of their point of view on politics structured by their trajectory in historically specific structures of politics. I demonstrate my argument by documenting shifts in the mass‐linkage strategies of Indira Gandhi, one of the most influential leaders of postcolonial India. The general lesson to be drawn from this study is that it is important to examine political elites' past mass‐linkage experiences in historically specific conditions of the political structure in order to explain their current choices of mass‐linkage strategies.

Current Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi's Political Views

The research paper is current relevance of Mahatma Gandhi political views on the overall world impact on his political thought. For Gandhi ji morality and religion are two faces of the same coin from which neither of them can be separated. According to him, religion is to morality what watch is to seed that is sown in the soil. Thus morality and religion would go together Neither morality precedes religion nor religion precedes morality. They are intertwined and interdependent on each other. Morality emphasizes the relation of the individual to society and religion emphasizes the relation of individual to God. Gandhiji advocated that religion % and morality would pervade the whole of human life. He did not perceive religion as something more than morality. Morality is a way of life. Without it, we cannot respect and accept the rights of others. Gandhiji strictly followed morality in all his actions and performances. He tried to confine the national independent movement to the strict principle of Non-violence. It is the core of morality. And moreover, Gandhiji tried to moralize all religions and thereby to avoid hatred, fanaticism, and religious orthodoxy.

The Four Pillars of Gandhi's Political Edifice: Relevance for Contemporary Politics

The Four Pillars of Gandhi's Political Edifice: Relevance for Contemporary Politics

Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An Analysis of Gandhi's Political Discourse.

Introduction Hindu Responses to British Rule Gandhi and Yugadharma Theory of Non-Violence Dialogue with the Terrorists Sex, Energy and Politics Discourse on Untouchability Indianization of Autobiography Gandhi and the Bourgeoisie

Gandhi's Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination. By Bhikhu Parekh. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989. 248p. $26.95.

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On the Origins of Gandhi's Political Methodology: The Heritage of Kathiawad and Gujarat

This paper examines the benefits and the liabilities in Gandhi's exploitation of his own Gujarate regional and bania caste heritages in mobilizing political support.From his father, a prime minister in a small, princely state in Kathiawad, Gujarat, Gandhi learned of methods of nonviolent political protest including the fast, passive resistance by sitting dharna, and organized disobedience to law. Later he employed these Kathiawadi techniques, designed for local struggles, in his national program. Recognizing the political potential of bania financiers, Gandhi chose in middle life to work in Ahmedabad, the business capital of Gujarat, and won the community's support for the Congress. In turn, Gandhi's swadeshi campaigns, proclaimed to encourage cottage industry, also stimulated Ahmedabad's textile industry. Gandhi also found organizational support in Gujarat: a nascent labor union; a press; efficient, nationalistic civic leadership; and caste-based agrarian groups chafing under British land policies.Gandhi's innovative use of various Gujarati and bania heritages won many supporters across India, but is also alienated important groups: many Bengalis favored violence; Marxists called Gandhi a capitalist stooge; princes and landowners feared his mass-organizations; and Muslims found his Hinduism unsympathetic.

On the Origins of Gandhi's Political Methodology: The Heritage of Kathiawad and Gujarat

This paper examines the benefits and the liabilities in Gandhi's exploitation of his own Gujarate regional and bania caste heritages in mobilizing political support.From his father, a prime minister in a small, princely state in Kathiawad, Gujarat, Gandhi learned of methods of nonviolent political protest including the fast, passive resistance by sitting dharna, and organized disobedience to law. Later he employed these Kathiawadi techniques, designed for local struggles, in his national program. Recognizing the political potential of bania financiers, Gandhi chose in middle life to work in Ahmedabad, the business capital of Gujarat, and won the community's support for the Congress. In turn, Gandhi's swadeshi campaigns, proclaimed to encourage cottage industry, also stimulated Ahmedabad's textile industry. Gandhi also found organizational support in Gujarat: a nascent labor union; a press; efficient, nationalistic civic leadership; and caste-based agrarian groups chafing under British land policies.Gandhi's innovative use of various Gujarati and bania heritages won many supporters across India, but is also alienated important groups: many Bengalis favored violence; Marxists called Gandhi a capitalist stooge; princes and landowners feared his mass-organizations; and Muslims found his Hinduism unsympathetic.

Gandhi's Political Ethics

The centenary this year of Gandhi's birth provides an occasionJ to reassess the significance of the Indian leader. His political ethics and supporting notions about man and the state seem to me especially important in his teachings and practices. They have their weaknesses, but they should not be overlooked in any effort to reassess the complex and at times baffling Mahatma. Because Ganhdi's ideas about government and politics have been likened to those of Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy, his unique contribution has often been obscured. Gandhi borrowed Thoreau's term “civil disobedience” which the New England individualist had coined to explain his kind of opposition to the Mexican war and slavery. Yet there is a considerable gap between Gandhi's metaphysics and Thoreau's. As to Tolstoy, Gandhi's premises resemble some of the convictions of the Russian writer after he became a Christian anarchist. But the Indian leader placed more trust in the perfectability of public institutions than Tolstoy did. Without denying the utility of the frequent and inevitable comparisons, Gandhi's synthetic political philosophy is best seen by itself.

The Individual and Society in Gandhi's Political Thought

The Individual and Society in Gandhi's Political Thought

The Individual and Society in Gandhi's Political Thought

The problem of the relation of the individual to society and to the state was central to Gandhi's political thought and action. It has been said that Gandhi's “deliberate onslaught on the creed of individualism as it has been in operation during the last two or three centuries gave it a mortal blow.” How are statements like this to be reconciled with the fact that Gandhi appealed to individual conviction in his campaigns?In analyzing this problem we should look at the main concepts of social and political philosophy which had an impact on Gandhi's life and thought. Indian philosophy is of special importance in this context and therefore a major part of this paper is devoted to the discussion of Indian concepts and ideas as they were understood and interpreted by Gandhi. Much of Gandhi's thought and action can be explained only in terms of the historical situation and the social setting of his day and age. But Gandhi's campaigns and his contribution to the Indian freedom movement have been described by many authors and therefore no attempt is made in this paper to outline the course of events.

Toward a Re-Evaluation of Gandhi's Political Thought

Toward a Re-Evaluation of Gandhi's Political Thought

Toward a Revaluation of Gandhi's Political Thought

Toward a Revaluation of Gandhi's Political Thought