MGPE 008 Solved Guess Paper 2026: Gandhian Approach to Peace and Conflict Resolution for IGNOU MAGPS, PGDGPS and PGCGPS

The United Nations Agenda for Peace

Question: Write an essay on the United Nations Agenda for Peace.

Introduction. For establishing peace among nations, the UN's Agenda for Peace can be broadly separated into four groups: preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace building.

The four groups

1. Preventive diplomacy: it tries to end a conflict before it becomes violent. The parties are helped to settle the matter early.
2. Peacemaking: it tries to settle the conflict through diplomacy after it has become violent. Its aim is to get the parties to agree to a cease-fire.
3. Peacekeeping: at this stage the UN makes sure that the cease-fire is honoured (obeyed).
4. Peace building: the last stage. It promotes peace and order by building social structures, legal systems and sometimes even a new government.

Adjudicative methods. These are non-diplomatic methods. A third party gets the power to decide the dispute. The decision is not reached by persuasion; it is reached by finding the facts and applying the law to them.

International peace systems. The book gives four models of sharing power among nations: minimum equality of power (Pax Romana, Pax Britannica), maximum equality of power (the balance of power, today the balance of terror), power stabilised at a low level (arms control from the Hague Peace Conference of 1899) and power stabilised at zero (general and complete disarmament).

Regionalism and Gandhi's view. Regional organisations have grown as a means of peace, but splits among members limit them. Gandhi was not optimistic about the League of Nations or the UN, as he felt they lacked the spirit of non-violence and a force to enforce their decisions.

Conclusion: The UN Agenda for Peace works in four steps: prevent, make, keep and build peace. For Gandhi, such bodies succeed only when they carry the spirit of non-violence.

The fourteen sources of conflict

Question: What are the major sources of conflict in the present world? How does lack of information and miscommunication become a source of conflict?

Introduction. After the underlying causes, the book moves to specific sources of conflict, also called the issues at stake in a conflict. It names fourteen of them.

1. Information: lack of information, misinformation and different readings of the same data. Control of information is itself a weapon.
2. Miscommunication: self-centredness, selective perception, emotional bias and prejudice give different views of the same facts.
3. Resources: land, money, water, oil and territory. Gandhi said the earth provides enough for every person's need but not for every person's greed.
4. Relationships: interdependence at home or work can turn normal differences destructive.
5. Interests and needs: denial of resources, respect or identity leads to structural violence. For Gandhi, exploitation was the essence of violence.
6. Structures: social structures decide who gets power, resources and respect.
7. Power: hard (coercive) or soft (persuasive). Gandhi preferred "power-with" over "power-over".
8. Governance: lack of legitimacy causes unrest; the UN lists eight features of good governance.
9. Rights: denial of first, second and third generation rights.
10. Culture: Marc Ross speaks of a "culture of conflict".
11. Ideology: beliefs such as Fascism or Marxism divided the world in the Cold War.
12. Religion: exclusivity and fundamentalism fuel conflict, though religion can also be a resource for peace.
13. Identity: after the Cold War, "who are you" replaced "what is your ideology", as the break-up of Yugoslavia shows.
14. Values: when one group claims its way of life is superior, values clash and feel like a threat to identity.

Why information and miscommunication matter. Disputants often do not hold the same information, or give it different weight. Until perceptions are cleared up, no resolution is possible. Whether a conflict has real or perceived sources, people experience it as very real.

Conclusion: Many conflicts begin not from real incompatibility but from poor information and communication, so clear and respectful communication is the first step to peace.

Short notes: the process of mediation; arbitration and adjudication

Question: Write short notes on (a) Process of mediation (b) Arbitration and adjudication.

(a) Process of mediation

Mediation is a process through which a neutral third person facilitates integrative negotiation between disputing individuals and groups. It is voluntary, and the parties, not the mediator, make the decisions. After groundwork (choosing the mediator and bringing the parties in), it runs in four stages:

1. Introduction: a safe place, the mediator's role explained, ground rules such as no interrupting and confidentiality.
2. Storytelling: each side explains the situation; the mediator paraphrases, notes hurt and anger, and finds common ground.
3. Problem solving: one issue at a time, moving the parties from positions to interests.
4. Agreement: a fair, lasting agreement covering what, who, when, where and how, written or oral.

(b) Arbitration and adjudication

In arbitration, the disputants take their dispute to an impartial third party who gives them a decision. It can be chosen freely or not, binding or not, public or private, and it keeps the privacy and flexibility of mediation while giving an authoritative ruling.

Adjudication is settlement by a court: a petitioner demands something from a defendant and the court decides. It is adversarial, formal, lawyer-driven and costly, and the decision comes from facts plus law, not persuasion.

Conclusion: Mediation lets the parties find their own answer with a neutral helper; arbitration and adjudication hand the decision to a third party or a court.

Principles and process of satyagraha

Question: Discuss the principles and process of Satyagraha.

Introduction. Satyagraha is "a relentless search for truth and a determination to reach truth". For Gandhi it was an attitude and a way of life, where the satisfaction of all parties matters more than winning. Gene Sharp describes three types of nonviolent action: accommodation, nonviolent coercion and conversion. Gandhi preferred conversion because it touches the conscience.

Ten principles of satyagraha

1. Do not humiliate or provoke the opponent.
2. Be clear about the essential elements and purpose of the struggle.
3. Share full and honest information.
4. Formulate common interests and co-operate on them.
5. Do not judge opponents more harshly than yourself.
6. Trust your opponents.
7. Make large concessions on non-essentials, never on principle.
8. Use it only for a just cause; personal sincerity is key.
9. Make sacrifices to prove your sincerity.
10. Never exploit a position of weakness in the opponent.

Process

Thomas Weber gives three prerequisites of a successful campaign: some common interest can always be found, the parties can be moved by an "appeal to the heart and mind", and those who begin can carry it through. Conversion then moves step by step: reasoning with the opponent, then persuasion through self-suffering (which Richard Gregg called "moral jiu-jitsu"), and only then non-cooperation or civil disobedience.

Conclusion: Satyagraha works through ten principles and a staged process of reasoning, self-suffering and non-cooperation. Its aim is to convert the opponent, not to defeat him.

Strike: meaning, precepts and Gandhi's ethics

Question: Write an essay on the meaning and basic precepts of strike. What are Mahatma Gandhi's views on the ethics of strike?

Introduction. A strike is primarily a cessation of all actions and a form of protest against existing unrest. It is a non-violent weapon that seeks just demands and tries to make the oppressor feel guilty, though it carries some element of coercion.

1. Hartal: a traditional Indian protest with advance notice, shops and business closed, usually for 24 hours.
2. Picketing: an appeal to people to withdraw patronage from shops and concerns.
3. Dharna: a sit-in that draws public attention, which Gandhi often restrained as coercive.
4. Last resort: a strike comes only after moral appeals and voluntary arbitration have failed (Thomas Weber).

Gandhi's four principles for strikers: never resort to violence, never molest blacklegs (non-striking workers), never depend on alms, and remain firm while earning bread by other honest labour. The Ahmedabad workers marched under the banner "Ek Tek" (keep the pledge).

Conditions for success: a just cause, practical unanimity among strikers, no violence against non-strikers, and self-support through useful work rather than union funds. Gandhi held that a strike is a worker's right but becomes wrong once the employer accepts arbitration. In the Ahmedabad Mill Strike of 1918, workers finally won a 35 per cent increase through arbitration.

Conclusion: For Gandhi, a strike is a form of satyagraha, justified only for a just cause, as a last resort, and when carried out with truth and non-violence.