SOUTH ASIA KRISHNA KUMAR, ed. Democracy and Non-Violence: A Study of Their Relationship. Delhi : Gandhi Peace Foundation, 1968. Pp. 244. Price Rs 20.00
Abstract
Notes and MemorandaSOUTH ASIA KRISHNA KUMAR, ed. Democracy and Non-Violence: A Study of Their Relationship. Delhi : Gandhi Peace Foundation, 1968. Pp. 244. Price Rs 20.00 SAGE Publications, Inc.1973DOI: 10.1177/002088177301200313 The present study, which has contributions from prominent politicians, academicians, and activists of the,Gandhi Peace Foundation, is an attempt "to study the concrete relationship between democracy and non-violence" in the context of the "harsh and often frightening realities of the present-day situation" in India and elsewhere. "Our object", maintains the editor of the volume, "is not to plunge into fine philosophical disquisitions or to spin out utopias. Nor is it to preach sermons or repeat the old cliches." And yet this is exactly what many of the contributors have done. As such, instead of being purposive, the essays are platitudinous and inane assertions of truisms. To begin with, most of the contributors have attempted to show the relationship between, and the interdependence of, democracy and non-violence. Democracy, according to one of them, is "the applied religion of non-violence". Some few have dealt with Gandhi's contribution to the development of democratic theory and have expressed disappointment at the failure of India to follow the Gandhian path. One of the