Moral Empire and the Global Meaning of Gandhi's Anti-imperialism

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6403265
AutoresNazmul S Sultan (0000-0002-7850-9400, University of British Columbia, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen84
Número4
Páginas545-569
Fecha de publicación2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Review of Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034670522000560
OpenAlexW4294233748
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas19

Gandhi famously shook the foundations of the British Empire and sparked the beginning of a new anti-imperial era. But his critique of empire does not quite fit the familiar script of twentieth-century anti-imperialism. Gandhi's positions ranged from sincere expressions of imperial loyalty to a condemnation of English civilization while endorsing its moral empire, to an unqualified disavowal of the Britsh Empire without necessarily claiming independence. Reconstructing the long arc of his (anti-)imperial thought, this article shows that the idea of empire operated in the early Gandhi's thought in two ways: as the authorizing source of the rights of Indians and as the addressee of political claims. This genealogy helps explain the complex trajectory of his two separate breaks from empire. The article ultimately suggests that the key to understanding the global resonance of Gandhi's ideas lies in his transformation of the imperial adversary into a universal addressee of action

Ancient history · Civilization · Empire · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Political science · Politics · Sociology · History · Indian Economic and Social Development · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Religious studies