The Seven Blunders of the World is a list that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper, on their final day together, shortly before his assassination.[1] The seven blunders are:
Regarding "politics without principle", Ghandi said having politics without truth(s) to justly dictate the action creates chaos, which ultimately leads to violence. Gandhi called these missteps "passive violence," ‘which fuels the active violence of crime, rebellion, and war.’ He said, "We could work 'til doomsday to achieve peace and would get nowhere as long as we ignore passive violence in our world." [2]
Politics is literally defined as, “The struggle in any group for power that will give one or more persons the ability to make decisions for the larger group”[3]
Mohandas Gandhi defined principle as, “the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practice perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice” [4]
There are many different types of regimes in the world whose politics differ. Based on Gandhi’s Blunder Politics without Principle, a regime type might be more of a root of violence than another because one regime has more principle than the other. Regimes have different types of fighting and aggression tactics, each desiring different outcomes. This difference affects the actions taken by political heads in countries across the globe. Gandhi wrote, “An unjust law is itself a species of violence”.[5] The aggression of one country on another may be rooted in the government’s creation of an unjust law. For example, a war of irredentism fought for one state to reclaim territory that was lost due to a law promoting ethnic cleansing.
Principle in one country could easily be a crime in another. This difference leads one to believe that the root of violence is inevitably present somewhere in the world. “Politics without Principle” will inevitably take place throughout time.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.[6]
This list grew from Gandhi's search for the roots of violence. He called these acts of passive violence. Preventing these is the best way to prevent oneself or one's society from reaching a point of violence, according to Gandhi.
To this list, Arun Gandhi added an eighth blunder, rights without responsibilities.[7] According to Arun Gandhi, the idea behind the first blunder originates from the feudal practice of Zamindari. He also suggests that the first and the second blunders are interrelated.
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