Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Ikone der indischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, war überzeugt davon, dass eine neue soziale Ordnung für ein Indien frei von kolonialer Unterdrückung und basierend auf seinen Ideen von sarvodaya (Wohlstand für alle), swaraj (Selbstbestimmung) und wirtschaftlicher Unabhängigkeit nur mit einem radikalen Wandel im Bildungsbereich Realität werden konnte. Er kritisierte, dass Bildung vornehmlich auf die Bedürfnisse der städtischen Eliten, der Kolonialverwaltung und -wirtschaft ausgerichtet war und hatte die Vision einer ‚neuen‘ Bildung, später auch bekannt als Basic Education oder Nai Talim, basierend auf ruralem Handwerk und Landwirtschaft und damit fokussiert auf die ländliche Bevölkerung. Die vorliegende Dissertation rekonstruiert die Herausbildung von Gandhis Bildungsideen und verschiedene Versuche zu deren Institutionalisierung. Dabei kontextualisiert sie seine Sichtweisen vor dem Hintergrund der Debatten um diverse Vorstellungen einer neuen sozialen Ordnung in der indischen Unabhängigkeitsbewegung, zeigt auf, wie seine Bildungsideen eng verknüpft waren mit seiner Kritik an der Kolonialherrschaft und nimmt seine Ideen vom Zusammenhang zwischen Bildung und sozialer Transformation in den Blick. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei Gandhis Vorstellungen von manueller Arbeit und welche Rolle er ihr im Bildungsprozess zudachte. Bei der Analyse seiner Ideen und Metaphern und seiner Vision von Nai Talim nimmt die Arbeit auch die diversen damit verbundenen Inspirationsquellen in den Blick und fokussiert auf die von ihm konstruierten symbolischen Bedeutungswelten und visuellen Elemente, die ein wichtiger Teil seiner Selbstrepräsentation und Massenmobilisierung waren und später auch ihren Niederschlag in Bildungsrealitäten fanden. Nicht zuletzt analysiert die Arbeit Institutionalisierungsprozesse, ihre Widersprüche, die Kritik an Gandhi’s Ideen und den Wandel von Gandhis ‚Pädagogik der manuellen Arbeit‘ hin zu einer ‚Pädagogisierung der manuellen Arbeit‘. / Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the icon of the Indian independence movement, was convinced that a new social order for an India free from colonial subjugation and based on his ideas on sarvodaya (the welfare of all), swaraj (self-rule) and economic self-sufficiency could only become reality with a radical shift in education. He criticized the fact that, hitherto, education had been primarily targeted at the urban elites and the needs of the colonial government and economy and envisioned a ‘new’ education, later also known as Basic Education or Nai Talim, centred on rural crafts and agriculture and targeted especially at village populations. This dissertation traces the historical development of Gandhi’s educational ideas. It reconstructs his vision of Nai Talim primarily based on his own writings and reflections, contextualises it in ongoing debates in the independence movement on the future of India’s social order and analyses how his vision was embedded in his critique of British colonial rule and in the connection he made between education and social reconstruction. A focus thereby is also his understanding of manual labour in society and its relationship with the education process. Analysing key ideas and metaphors in his educational thought, the dissertation refers to his sources of inspiration, his use of symbolism and the visual in his self-presentation and mass mobilization and how elements of these symbolic worlds of meaning also became part of education programmes. Finally, it also deals with the diverse institutional developments based on Gandhi’s education ideas, their inherent contradictions, the criticism they generated and the shift from his ‘pedagogy of manual work’ to a ‘pedagogization of manual work’.

This dissertation reconstructs a theoretical framework for the Indian Constitution. It does so immanently, by focusing on the making of the Indian Constitution, taking into account both the demands of its specific historical conditions, and the formal constraints of drafting a constitution. The dissertation shows that in its historical context the task of the Indian constitution makers should be understood as creating a constitutional system that can mediate a transformation of the social condition. Performing this task required reinterpreting the established tenets of constitutionalism. The reinterpretation produces a distinct variation of constitutionalism that is termed transformational constitutionalism. Part I of the dissertation focuses on some of the central tenets of constitutional theory by examining the writings in which they first assumed their paradigmatic form. The concepts are situated in the historical context in which they were formulated to highlight the specific challenges they were a response to, and hence distinguishing them from the conceptual terrain in which the Indian Constitution was formulated. Part I also shows the essentially preservative nature of the main tenets of constitutional thought, and that the fully developed versions of its central concepts seek to preclude any possibility for major changes in social conditions. Part II sets out the historical developments that led to the material and ideational terrain on which the Indian Constitution was conceived. It first outlines the institutional and discursive structures of colonial rule to tease out the development of concepts that would serve as the point of reference for the constitution-makers. Part II then turns to the resistance to colonial rule by focusing on the ideas and politics of M.K. Gandhi to delineate the strengths and weaknesses of Congress's claim to represent the Indian nation at the moment of independence, and outline the two different visions of what it meant to free oneself from colonial subjugation, and the different challenges for bringing those visions to fruition. Finally, Part II outlines the way in which the Indian constitutional vision was caught in an interdependent dynamic of break and continuity with its colonial past. After Part I and II have traced the conceptual coordinates of a modern constitution, and the specific historical condition in which the Indian constitution was conceived respectively, Part III focuses on the Indian Constituent Assembly Debates to show how the framers sought to respond to the concrete challenges facing them by creatively reinterpreting the precepts of modern constitutionalism itself. The dissertation shows that the Indian Constitution has to be understood as a totality containing three related strata - that of constitutional imagination, promises, and text - which exist in tension with each other. This tension constitutes the contradiction at the heart of the Indian Constitutional form. The dissertation concludes by following one such contradiction, between the strata of imagination and text as it developed during the most important constitutional conflict of the initial years on the question of compensation for acquisition of property. It also demonstrates how that conflict fundamentally shaped the nature of Indian constitutional practice.

<p>Avhandlingen, som undersökt Elin Wägners skönlitterära författarskap och journalistik under 1920-talet, visar att det är då hon stiger fram som en internationell rörelseintellektuell. Då formulerar hon sina åsikter om hur världen bör styras och hur kvinnor och män skall agera för att nå jämställdhet och fred, frågor som kom att stå i fokus för hennes liv och fortsatta författarskap. Det är med hjälp av internationell forskning och litteratur som Wägner blottlägger förhållandena i Sverige och påverkar den svenska debatten.Som introduktör av tänkare som Rosa Mayreder, Mathilde Vaerting och Mary Parker Follett kunde hon avslöja det korstryck som svenska kvinnor var utsatta för och samtidigt presentera ett eget koncet om en möjlig framtid för kvinnor och män. I avhandlingen har den första mer systematska analysen av Wägners insatser i veckotidningen Tidevarvet under åren 1923-1930 genomförts. Här framträder Wägner i många skepnader som kåsör, ledarskribent, recensent och utrikeskorrespondent men alltid med syftet att påverka läsaren i viss riktning. Med sina tre K:teman: kvinnan, kärleken och kriget speglar hon verkligheten utifrån två perspektiv, ett kortsiktigt pessimistiskt och ett längre optimmistiskt perspektiv.Det är i Tidevarvet som hon presenterar sin radikalpacifism och visarsitt starka beroende och inflytande av Gandhi och hans icke-våldsaktivism.Avhandlingens andra del behandlar Wägners 1920-talsromaner, vilka ofta benämnts som smålandsromaner men som i avhandlingen räknas som utvecklingsromaner om den medelålders kvinnans rätt till livsutrymme och sexualitet. Istället för att betrakta protagonisterna som offer, vilket ofta skett i tidigare forskning, visar avhandlingen att de istället agerar som visionära feminister med starka personligheter och tydliga livsmål. Det ärockså under tjugotalet som Wägner bekänner sig som kristen och närmar sig kväkarna, men engagerar sig även i den svenska kyrkan. Hon granskar prästernas dubbelmoral och förljugna inställning till äktenskap och skilsmässa både i sina romaner och i Tidevarvet. Dock är hon mest kritisk till att kyrkan inte på allvar driver fredens sak.Wägner är inte bara radikal i sin tid utan såg även vilka idéer och personer som tillhörde framtiden och framstår därför som både tidstypisk och tidlös.</p> / <p>Elin Wägner and her literary activities in the 1920s have not been a main interest for literary research. Instead, her writings from earlier or later decades are studied at length. Nevertheless, my dissertation indicates that it was during this decade several of her important projects in life and literature took place. The main purpose of the study is to present Wägner’s influence in the Swedish debate in a number of issues as feminism, pacifism and internationalism.</p><p>My point of departure is Wägners journalistic authorship in the radical weekly <i>Tidevarvet</i> (1923-1930) and her novels <i>Den Namnlösa</i> (1922), <i>Silverforsen</i> (1924), <i>Natten till söndag</i> (1926), <i>Svalorna flyga högt</i> (1929) and <i>Från Seine, Rhen och Ruhr</i> (1923), a collection of short stories. Using the concept <i>movement intellectual</i>, which has been further developed in the dissertation, the study indicates that Wägner, mostly with ideas and results from abroad, managed to influence both her organizations, their members and the general public. Her methods were three: writing, speaking and mobilization, and the arena was her fiction, her journalism and her networks. The intentions were much the same in all her activities.</p><p>Wägner’s international work for peace in the war-torn Europe during the first part of the decade changed her and her outlook on war and peace. She became a radical pacifist and negotiated on behalf of organizations as the Quakers, the Red Cross and WILP, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her devotion for peace is specially evident in <i>Tidevarvet</i>, the political weekly founded by FKR, Frisinnade Kvinnors Riksförbund, in 1923, where Wägner was active both as a writer and an editor. Here the influence from Gandhi and the Quakers is prominent, and Wägner tries all her life to introduce Gandhi to the Swedish public. </p><p>In the 1920s Elin Wägner also started her studies of matriarcy and her research of women’s history where the influence from international feminists as Rosa Mayreder, Mathilde Varting and Mary Parker Follett gave her arguments to strengthen women’s position and confidence both as women and as political citizens. At Fogelstad and Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan, Wägner, together with the other members in the Fogelstad Group, were active educating women for their new citizenship. As members in FKR also worked to get seats in the Parliament, but failed. My study shows why.</p>

Avhandlingen, som undersökt Elin Wägners skönlitterära författarskap och journalistik under 1920-talet, visar att det är då hon stiger fram som en internationell rörelseintellektuell. Då formulerar hon sina åsikter om hur världen bör styras och hur kvinnor och män skall agera för att nå jämställdhet och fred, frågor som kom att stå i fokus för hennes liv och fortsatta författarskap. Det är med hjälp av internationell forskning och litteratur som Wägner blottlägger förhållandena i Sverige och påverkar den svenska debatten.Som introduktör av tänkare som Rosa Mayreder, Mathilde Vaerting och Mary Parker Follett kunde hon avslöja det korstryck som svenska kvinnor var utsatta för och samtidigt presentera ett eget koncet om en möjlig framtid för kvinnor och män. I avhandlingen har den första mer systematska analysen av Wägners insatser i veckotidningen Tidevarvet under åren 1923-1930 genomförts. Här framträder Wägner i många skepnader som kåsör, ledarskribent, recensent och utrikeskorrespondent men alltid med syftet att påverka läsaren i viss riktning. Med sina tre K:teman: kvinnan, kärleken och kriget speglar hon verkligheten utifrån två perspektiv, ett kortsiktigt pessimistiskt och ett längre optimmistiskt perspektiv.Det är i Tidevarvet som hon presenterar sin radikalpacifism och visarsitt starka beroende och inflytande av Gandhi och hans icke-våldsaktivism.Avhandlingens andra del behandlar Wägners 1920-talsromaner, vilka ofta benämnts som smålandsromaner men som i avhandlingen räknas som utvecklingsromaner om den medelålders kvinnans rätt till livsutrymme och sexualitet. Istället för att betrakta protagonisterna som offer, vilket ofta skett i tidigare forskning, visar avhandlingen att de istället agerar som visionära feminister med starka personligheter och tydliga livsmål. Det ärockså under tjugotalet som Wägner bekänner sig som kristen och närmar sig kväkarna, men engagerar sig även i den svenska kyrkan. Hon granskar prästernas dubbelmoral och förljugna inställning till äktenskap och skilsmässa både i sina romaner och i Tidevarvet. Dock är hon mest kritisk till att kyrkan inte på allvar driver fredens sak.Wägner är inte bara radikal i sin tid utan såg även vilka idéer och personer som tillhörde framtiden och framstår därför som både tidstypisk och tidlös. / Elin Wägner and her literary activities in the 1920s have not been a main interest for literary research. Instead, her writings from earlier or later decades are studied at length. Nevertheless, my dissertation indicates that it was during this decade several of her important projects in life and literature took place. The main purpose of the study is to present Wägner’s influence in the Swedish debate in a number of issues as feminism, pacifism and internationalism. My point of departure is Wägners journalistic authorship in the radical weekly Tidevarvet (1923-1930) and her novels Den Namnlösa (1922), Silverforsen (1924), Natten till söndag (1926), Svalorna flyga högt (1929) and Från Seine, Rhen och Ruhr (1923), a collection of short stories. Using the concept movement intellectual, which has been further developed in the dissertation, the study indicates that Wägner, mostly with ideas and results from abroad, managed to influence both her organizations, their members and the general public. Her methods were three: writing, speaking and mobilization, and the arena was her fiction, her journalism and her networks. The intentions were much the same in all her activities. Wägner’s international work for peace in the war-torn Europe during the first part of the decade changed her and her outlook on war and peace. She became a radical pacifist and negotiated on behalf of organizations as the Quakers, the Red Cross and WILP, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Her devotion for peace is specially evident in Tidevarvet, the political weekly founded by FKR, Frisinnade Kvinnors Riksförbund, in 1923, where Wägner was active both as a writer and an editor. Here the influence from Gandhi and the Quakers is prominent, and Wägner tries all her life to introduce Gandhi to the Swedish public. In the 1920s Elin Wägner also started her studies of matriarcy and her research of women’s history where the influence from international feminists as Rosa Mayreder, Mathilde Varting and Mary Parker Follett gave her arguments to strengthen women’s position and confidence both as women and as political citizens. At Fogelstad and Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan, Wägner, together with the other members in the Fogelstad Group, were active educating women for their new citizenship. As members in FKR also worked to get seats in the Parliament, but failed. My study shows why.

This paper explores the rhetoric and actions of Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, and Indira Gandhi regarding feminism and their gender before they became prime minister. The paper finds that none of the leaders identified as feminists, and did not actively focus on women’s issues or elevate the status of women while in office. Yet, all of these leaders called for women to mobilize and pursue careers, either via their actions or speeches. Thatcher, particularly in the crucial period in which she rose to power, explicitly encouraged women to mobilize as voters and pursue work outside the home in her formal speeches, public statements, letters and interviews. Through their organized activities before they obtained office, Meir and Gandhi worked to mobilize women politically, although their rhetoric did not explicitly encourage women over men to participate politically. The paper explores nuanced ways that each leader associated with her gender and preached for other women to pursue careers. Looking ahead at one case study shows that women now are not necessarily averse to explicitly associating with their gender. Tzipi Livni, the candidate for the Kadima Party in the 2009 Israeli election, used her gender as a campaign tactic. Hopefully this paper helps lay the groundwork for future study on women candidate’s rhetoric and actions regarding feminism before they are elected.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

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

India is celebrated as the largest democracy in the world but is it truly democratic? Is it the nation-state that its founder’s envisioned it to be? Has it addressed it ancient issue of social diversity? This paper seeks to assess the present problem faced by the Indian Democracy; problems based on India’s inherent social diversity. Furthermore the paper seeks to recommend a solution based on Amartya Sen’s Open Impartiality approach that will allow the country to reassess its democratic platform. The paper also aims at providing a starting point to execute Sen’s approach by exploring the vision of two of India’s independence leaders: Mohandas Karamchandra Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

India has seen unrivaled economic growth since it embarked on its neoliberal reforms in 1990. However, accompanying this growth in income and wealth is an increase in social and economic inequalities among its population. This thesis will look at the impact of the neoliberal agenda on India’s population, particularly on its rural and marginalized poor, and show how this growth and development has been predatory in nature, benefitting a small minority at the expense of a large majority of the population who are experiencing poverty, unemployment and the loss of livelihoods as a result. This paper argues that Gandhian economic philosophy - in particular, the emphasis on localization and decentralization – has a central role to play in the development agenda of India, and is fundamental in correcting this imbalance. By drawing on Gandhi’s economic philosophy and present-day grassroots movements and initiatives that are echoing his core principles, this paper argues for the localization of power in the form of participatory governance to achieve rural revitalization, poverty eradication and radical empowerment. Fundamental for this to happen are appropriate forms and systems of governance at the local level; the creation of livelihoods through and within the local community; and incorporating local traditional and indigenous knowledge into development strategies.