No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1991.

No description available.

No description available.

By examining Gandhi as a political organiser it may be possible to bridge the gap between two interpretations of his importance -- one which focuses on his propagation of nonviolence "as a way of life", the other- which treats him as a pioneer in the use of nonviolence "as a conflict technique. " Gandhi named his philosophy and his method of action, "satyagraha". Between 1915 and 1922 he emerged as the organiser of local satyagraha campaigns in Bihar and Gujarat. He moved quickly, however, to leadership of further struggles at a national level, in particular the hoxlatt Satyagraha in 1919 and Noncooperation eighteen months later. The thesis explores, through a series of case studies, how Gandhi developed his methods as he moved over a period of about five years from local to national scale. At the national level, Gandhi failed to take India by storm as he had hoped through organisations founded by himself to propagate his principles like the Satyagraha Sabha and the Swadeshi Sabha. He therefore forged alliances with political figures from other perspectives within the Khilafat movement and the Indian Rational Congress who nonetheless were prepared to follow his direction. A principal means which Gandhi developed for generating solidarity between the nation's educated "classes" and the "masses" and for mobilising people short of civil disobedience, was the promotion of campaigns of constructive work. This is particularly clear in his planning and leadership of the Noncooperation movement. Presentation of nonviolent action in the West, by overstressing the "conflict" aspect of satyagraha and neglecting the "constructive", has been one-sided. The importance in Gandhi's method as an organiser of a concept of constructive programme and its application in practice suggests that advocates of nonviolent action as a technique should look more closely at the balance between the two aspects in his approach. The thesis concludes with a review'of the rules and stages in Gandhi's satyagraha campaigns which have been proposed in the work of Joan Bondurant.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1966. / Bibliography: leaves [306]-310. / v, 310 l

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Florence McCarthy. Dissertation Committee: Douglas Sloan. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-159).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 1992. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis / Dissertation ETD

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1993. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 318-331).

The thesis is concerned with the development of the idea of freedom in modern India, and particularly in the political and social thought of four major Indian writers, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore. Three major areas of discussion maybe distinguished here. First, there is a consideration of the common ground on which these four thinkers stand. It is argued that they comprise a "school" of modern Indian thought, both because of the purpose that they share, and the fundamental principles on which they all agree. Chief among these principles is that concerning the nature of freedom. Two broad forms of freedom are distinguished: "external" (political and social), and "internal" (moral and spiritual). These two forms are seen as complementary; as corresponding qualities which must both be achieved for freedom to be wholly realised. Second, the background of the school's thought is briefly discussed. Certain key themes in the writings of prominent nineteenth-century Indian figures are examined, to suggest the nature of the climate of opinion out of which Vivekananda's conception of freedom emerged. Finally, the greater part of the thesis is devoted to an analysis of precisely what these four men thought about freedom, and how one of them, Gandhi, carried on experiments with his ideas in Indian society and politics. It is argued that while all the members of this school agree on fundamental issues, each made a distinctive contribution to the development of the idea of freedom. Vivekananda's contribution arises in the synthesis that he created of various strands of nineteenth-century Indian thought, and which he used in his formulation of a particular conception of freedom. The major aspects of this conception were developed by the other thinkers, each adding new dimensions. If Vivekananda was the seminal influence behind the school, Aurobindo was its outstanding theoretician. He attempted to show a natural correspondence between individual freedom as self-realisation and social unity as a state of universal harmony in which each had recognized his spiritual identity with all. Gandhi was the most active participant in the nationalist movement. He sought to implement his school's ideas on freedom and harmony with a programme of social and political change; a method rooted in the belief that social progress could only come through a moral transformation of the individual in society. And finally, Tagore; who is seen, here, as the critic or "conscience" of the school, warning it against the cult of Nationalism: the threat to individual freedom and universal harmony which the others had overlooked.