Towards A Non Violent Society

1. Training in Non-Violence Acharya Tulsi ...........................................................11 2. Non-Violence and its Many Facets Acharya Mahaprajna.................................................21 3. Ecology and Non-Violence Acharya Mahashraman .............................................31 4. Role of Women in the Training for Non-Violence Sadhavi Pramukha Kanak Prabha...............................35 5. Toward a Non-Violent 21St Century Glenn D. Paige.........................................................41 6. The Spirituality of Non-Violence Donal Harrington......................................................50 7. Peace and Conflict-Resolution: Indian Experience of Non-Violence Professor Ramjee Singh ............................................61 8. Human Rights as the Basic Principle for Non-Violence Training Luis Perez Aguirre ....................................................79 9. Peace With Justice and Dignity Guillermo Michel......................................................88 10. Ahimsa And Human Development: A Different Paradigm for Conflict Resolution Ursula Oswald Spring .............................................102 11. Nonviolence as a Science of Conflict Resolution Antonino Drago ......................................................123 12. Globalization Process and Conflicts in the World Order B.M. Jain ..............................................................135 13. Towards an Era of Culture of Peace N. Radhakrishnan ..................................................147 14. Sustainable Development for Peaceful Living B.R. Dugar ............................................................159 15. Teaching Peace and Harmony Through English Dr Sanjay Goyal......................................................168 16. Gandhian Technique of Conflict Resolution: An International Perspective Dashrath Singh ......................................................176 17. Non-Violence in the Information Age Katsuya Kodama ....................................................198 18. The Way of Nonviolence R. B. Deats............................................................204 19. Vision for Human Development and Self-Transformation N.B. Mirza.............................................................213 20. Education as Impetus in Shaping Attitudes Relating to Peace and the Environment Kamala Sharma .....................................................225

For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories. Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries and territories, Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed and, sometimes, causing them to fail. They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral and physical involvement and commitment, and that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, greater opportunities for tactical innovation and civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment. Chenoweth and Stephan conclude that successful nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable and internally peaceful democracies, which are less likely to regress into civil war. Presenting a rich, evidentiary argument, they originally and systematically compare violent and nonviolent outcomes in different historical periods and geographical contexts, debunking the myth that violence occurs because of structural and environmental factors and that it is necessary to achieve certain political goals. Instead, the authors discover, violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds.

“The most creative and courageous social theorist working today” examines the ethical binds that emerge within the force field of violence (Cornel West). “ . . . nonviolence is often seen as passive and resolutely individual. Butler’s philosophical inquiry argues that it is in fact a shrewd and even aggressive collective political tactic.” —New York Times Judith Butler shows how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality. While many think of nonviolence as passive or individualist, Butler argues nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field. She champions an ‘aggressive’ nonviolence, which accepts hostility as part of our psychic constitution—but values ambivalence as a way of checking the conversion of aggression into violence. Some challengers say a politics of nonviolence is subjective: What qualifies as violence versus nonviolence? This distinction is often mobilized in the service of ratifying the state’s monopoly on violence. Considering nonviolence as an ethical problem within a political philosophy requires two things: a critique of individualism and an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of violence. Butler draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin to consider how the interdiction against violence fails to include lives regarded as ‘ungrievable’. By considering how “racial phantasms” inform justifications of state and administrative violence, Butler tracks how violence is often attributed to those who are most severely exposed to its lethal effects. Ultimately, the struggle for nonviolence is found in modes of resistance and social movements that separate aggression from its destructive aims to affirm the living potentials of radical egalitarian politics.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the few men in history to fight simultaneously on moral, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural fronts. His life and thought has had an enormous impact on the Indian nation, and he continues to be widely revered - known before and after his death by assassination as Mahatma, the Great Soul.

In this ground-breaking and much-needed book, Stellan Vinthagen provides the first major systematic attempt to develop a theory of nonviolent action since Gene Sharp's seminal The Politics of Nonviolent Action in 1973. Employing a rich collection of historical and contemporary social movements from various parts of the world as examples - from the civil rights movement in America to anti-Apartheid protestors in South Africa to Gandhi and his followers in India - and addressing core theoretical issues concerning nonviolent action in an innovative, penetrating way, Vinthagen argues for a repertoire of nonviolence that combines resistance and construction. Contrary to earlier research, this repertoire - consisting of dialogue facilitation, normative regulation, power breaking and utopian enactment - is shown to be both multidimensional and contradictory, creating difficult contradictions within nonviolence, while simultaneously providing its creative and transformative force. An important contribution in the field, A Theory of Nonviolent Action is essential for anyone involved with nonviolent action who wants to think about what they are doing.

The use of nonviolent action is on the rise. From the Occupy Movement to the Arab Spring and mass protests on the streets of Brazil, activists across the world are increasingly using unarmed tactics to challenge oppressive, corrupt and unjust systems. But what exactly do we mean by nonviolence? How is it deployed and to what effect? Do nonviolent campaigns with political motivations differ from those driven by primarily economic concerns? What are the limits and opportunities for activists engaging in nonviolent action today? Is the growing number of nonviolence protests indicative of a new type of twenty-first century struggle or is it simply a passing trend? Understanding Nonviolence: Contours and Contexts is the first book to offer a comprehensive introduction to nonviolence in theory and practice. Combining insightful analysis of key theoretical debates with fresh perspectives on contemporary and historical case studies, it explores the varied approaches, aims, and trajectories of nonviolent campaigns from Gandhi to the present day. With cutting-edge contributions from leading scholars and practitioners in the field, this accessible and lively book will be essential reading for activists, students and teachers of contentious politics, international security, and peace and conflict studies.

By providing teachers with a practical intervention program to prevent bullying in their schools, this book gives the reader tried and tested strategies to tackle a very challenging problem. Creating a safe school environment where pupils feel secure is increasingly difficult, but this book shows how to devise a strategy, put it into practice, measure its effectiveness and extend the good practice into the wider community. The involvement of young people is a key element of this process. With its roots firmly in practice, the book is based on a study of' common characteristics of schools that have successfully reduced bullying; case studies that show how change can be achieved; raising whole-school awareness of the problem; how to tackle bullying as a whole-school issue; involving the students and the student council; delivering in-service training to colleagues. Primary and secondary school teachers, the school management team, learning mentors, teaching assistants and governors will find the guidance clear and suggested approaches helpful.