This book examines the idea of punishment and some alternative humane methods of treating crime such as the public health-quarantine approach. A well-researched work on a subject of wide philosophical, legal, social, political and popular interest, it develops illuminating critiques of several important positions while also proposing a new and innovative approach to the key issues. It highlights how especially in societies with a weak welfare state and wide social and economic inequalities...

One of the main themes running through Gandhi’s life and work was the battle against evil. This book offers a fascinating reconstruction of Gandhi and the doctrine of Ahimsa or non-violence. Gandhi’s moral perfectionism is contrasted with other forms of perfectionism, but the book stresses that Gandhi also offered a doctrine of the second best. Following Gandhi, the author argues that outward violence with compassion is intrinsically not as good as non-violence with compassion, bu...

Over the past twenty years, the debate between neutrality and perfectionism has been at the center of political philosophy. Now Perfectionism and Neutrality: Essays in Liberal Theory brings together classic papers and new ideas on both sides of the discussion. Editors George Klosko and Steven Wall provide a substantive introduction to the history and theories of perfectionism and neutrality, expertly contextualizing the essays and making the collection accessible to everyone inter...

Often considered the most admired human being of the twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi was and remains controversial. Among the leading Gandhi scholars in the world, the authors of the timely studies in this volume present numerous ways in which Gandhi's thought and action-oriented approach are significant, relevant, and urgently needed for addressing the major problems and concerns of the twenty-first century. Such problems and concerns include issues of violence and nonviolence, war and ...

Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the few men in history to fight simultaneously on moral, religious, political, social, economic, and cultural fronts. During his time as a lawyer in South Africa he developed his strategy of non-violence: the idea of opposing unjust laws by non-violent protest, which he made the basis of his successful struggle against British rule in India. In this Very Short Introduction to Gandhi's life and thought, Bhikhu Parekh outlines both Gandhi's major philosophical i...

Commentators call the United States an empire: occasionally a benign empire, sometimes an empire in denial, often a destructive empire. In American Umpire Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman asserts instead that America has performed the role of umpire since 1776, compelling adherence to rules that gradually earned broad approval, and violating them as well.

This comprehensive Gandhi reader provides an essential new reference for scholars and students of his life and thought. It is the only text available that presents Gandhi's own writings, including excerpts from three of his books-An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Satyagraha in South Africa, Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)-a major pamphlet, Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place, and many journal articles and letters...

Bringing South Asian and British imperial history together with recent scholarship on transnationalism and postcolonialism, Tony Ballantyne offers a bold reevaluation of constructions of Sikh identity from the late eighteenth century through the early twenty-first. Ballantyne considers Sikh communities and experiences in Punjab, the rest of South Asia, the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world. He charts the shifting, complex, and frequently competing visions of Sikh identity that h...

This timely and significant study explores the reasons behind the rise in Sikh militancy over the 1970s and 1980s. It also evaluates the violent response of the Indian State in fuelling and suppressing the Sikh separatist movement, resulting in a tragic sequence of events which has included the raiding of the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The book reveals the role in this movement of a section of young semi-literate Sikh peasantry who were...

The political context in which the Historian of India finds himself today, says Sumit Sarkar, is dominated by the advance of the Hindu Right and globalised forms of capitalism. Simultaneously, the historians intellectual context is now dominated by the marginalisation of Marxism and a shift to cultural studies and postmodern critiques. In this scenario, how may a thinking historian practice the craft of history? The theme which unites these essays is Sumit Sarkar's consistent critique of t...

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most admired and controversial figures of the twentieth century, and he remains so today. In this book leading Gandhi scholar Douglas Allen presents a new, challenging approach to understanding Gandhi’s life and the contexts within which he lived and shaped history, and how his philosophy and practices can be reformulated in ways that are most significant today.Mahatma Gandhi explores the historical and cultural significance of Gandhi’s extrao...

Is it possible to build an authentically democratic system in politics without concrete ethical foundations? Addressing this question in the wake of the contemporary crisis in democracy worldwide, the volume re-evaluates Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s key thoughts. It foregrounds their relevance to the ongoing struggles that attempt to reconcile the apparently dissimilar orientations of politics and ethics.Collecting fresh interdisciplinary researches, the book provides insights into...