Director, Environmental Studies
Professor of English

ES 375: Ecosocial Advocacy

10 BASIC RULES OF THE GANDHIAN APPROACH TO CONFLICT

Gandhi’s Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution
Mark Juergensmeyer
University of California Press, 1984; Paperback Edition 2002/2005

1. Do not avoid confrontation. Avoidance simply prolongs underlying conflicts. Encounters between positions bring clarity.

2. Stay open to communication and self-criticism. Critical perspective is needed to sort out truth from untruth.

3. Find a resolution and hold fast to it. Seize onto harmonious alternatives, but be willing to challenge and change them.

4. Regard your opponent as a potential ally. Do nothing to harm or alienate your opponent. Your goal is to join forces to struggle against untruth.

5. Make your tactics consistent with your goal.

6. Be flexible. Be willing to change tactics, alter goals, and revise notions, including those of your opponent and your conception of truth.

7. Be temperate. Escalate your actions by degrees. Opponents should not feel intimidated, thereby fostering communication rather than defensiveness.

8. Be proportionate. Determine trivial vs. important issues. The basis for judgment is the degree to which life and the quality of life are abused. Mount a campaign of strength equal to that of the opponent.

9. Be disciplined. Especially when involving large numbers for collective action. Make certain your position is coherent, consistent, and committed to nonviolence.

10. Know when to quit. Deadlocked campaigns or ones with negative results may require revision in tactics or a change of goals. Concession, without agreement on principle is not victory. Victory can only be claimed with both sides can say the same.

“Winning in the Gandhian sense, requires a transformation of relationships.”

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