ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the basis of Gandhian civil disobedience and non-cooperation. Gandhi believed that we have the right to civil disobedience and he derived this right from the duty of civil disobedience. Liberals like Rawls attach great weight to rights (or justice) -based civil disobedience. Gandhi wanted to turn Satyagraha into a science, he said it was 'science in the making'. But actually he seems to have believed in non-violence as a matter of faith. He would claim that on occasions he did see it succeed, so it has a basis in observable facts. Gandhi had a more radical strategy which he used against the British, he did not simply wait till they were converted to the cause of Indian independence, he launched a non-cooperation movement. The non-cooperation is non-violent in the broad sense, but it is not Satyagraha for it is not an act of love for the opponent but an assertion of our rights.
