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The chapter depicts the potential place of the spirit of non-violence and the spirit of peace in social affairs and economic circumstances. It deals with the approach of Mahatma Gandhi to non-violence and the approach of Saint Francis of Assisi to noble poverty, simplicity and peace as one of the great inspirations to Gandhi. These two concepts are closely interrelated, as they have analogous aspects in theory and practice. Both of them seem suitable to be used as the main characteristics of dealing with social and ecological problems.

The following part of the chapter describes the life and the credo of Mahatma Gandhi, emphasizing the importance of non-violence, an alternative approach to deal with emerging social difficulties. After it, the chapter presents the life and the philosophy of Saint Francis of Assisi and how Gandhi was inspired by him. It emphasizes the importance of peace, noble poverty, simplicity and their spirit in ecological and social affairs. The chapter then presents non-violence and poverty as spiritual notions and shows intermediary concepts and examples of feasible business models by which they could be applied in economic practices. Non-violence and peace can be the spirit of business strategies, and they have the potential to transform modern economic practices into a more humanistic and sustainable form.

Building on the contributions of chaos and complexity theories, this paper aims to conceptualize how the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were able to transform chaos (randomness) into order (integration). More specifically, it aims to identify the qualities by which such leadership worked in the context of conflict and cultural confrontations, which is, leading at the edge of chaos.

This research follows a qualitative approach in data collection and analysis; it narrates and analyses biographic data as well as literature about these three prominent leaders. Common qualities of these leaders are explored in-depth, discussed and linked.

Success in leading at the edge of chaos was attributed to the following leadership qualities: vision, non-violence and tolerance. This paper conceptualizes Gandhi, King and Mandela's embodiment of these qualities in transforming difference and disagreement to unity and how they inspired and developed their societies at home and all over the world. This paper concludes with the following results: Dr King, Gandhi and Mandela were visionary leaders; the three leaders had a vision about the future of freedom, equality and peace. More importantly, they were able to hearts and minds, and convey their visions to followers and to society at large. They struggled to achieve their goals non-violently, but knew that violence could destroy society due to unbalanced power structures. In the fight for their people's emancipation/freedom, they avoided ethnic, racial and religious discrimination. The three leaders were politically, culturally and socially tolerant.

By identifying their leadership qualities and analyzing their leadership mechanisms, this paper stresses the necessity of the emergence and preservation of leadership as exhibited by King, Gandhi, Mandela and many other influential leaders. Leaders, committed to enrichment and sustainability of cultural diversity and nurturing of tolerance, can play a role in unifying nations. Practically put, today’s leaders need to rethink their strategies, by taking into consideration what Gandhi, King and Mandela have contributed to leadership in dealing with cultural diversity and conflict. Furthermore, leaders must extend the applicability of such leadership to include the ending of violence in every facet of people's lives, and work publicly to overcome the challenges encountering human kind such as nuclear weapons, war, poverty, racism, global warming, drugs, religious bigotry and violence of any kind. That is, today's leaders need to lead at the edge of chaos due to the ongoing conflicts around the globe.

This paper uniquely conceptualizes leadership qualities by analyzing and comparing literature and biographical data of the above-mentioned leaders. The study also contributes to the existing literature on leadership using an interdisciplinary approach by proving the mechanisms by which leadership transforms chaos into order within the context of cultural diversity and confrontation, where studies are rare. This research contributes to the theory of leaderships at three levels. First, it offers an interdisciplinary theory on leadership qualities by linking these qualities with chaos and complexity theories. Second, unlike the majority of literature which views leadership from a business or public leadership perspective, this research provides a new perspective of leadership for cultural diversity. Third, it highlights the role models of three exemplary leaders for each of whom previous literature is lacking.

Like the quixotic character that never knew that he was speaking all through his life in pure and simple prose, Gandhi never realized that what he was preaching and practicing throughout his life was in fact the basic principles and theories that could be subsumed under the contemporary discipline of political economy (PE). Gandhian political economy (GPE) is replete with many of the characteristics of classical and Marxian political economy and these are mentioned at relevant places throughout this work. It also assimilates some of the major features of contemporary heterodox political economy, in particular, the class analysis of Neo‐Marxism; gender, ethnicity and class analysis of Feminist political economy; the analysis of justice, ethics and institutional trust of social political economy; the analysis of the significance of institutions and institutional change of the institutional‐evolutionary political economy; and the importance of the interdisciplinary focus on contemporary issues like development and international political economy.

This chapter examines the contributions that the Indian political leader and educator, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) can make to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led practice of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and a sustainable world. It discusses issues related to the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioural dimensions of learning to know, learning to be, and learning to do involving a critical analysis of what it means to be and become an active citizen. This work expands on a long-term study on selected thinkers that suggests that there are political implications of taking action based on values, such as, peace and non-violence. Challenges often emerge when one takes action in real-world politics, and there are merits in studying the modes of creativity displayed by actors who are embroiled in these successes and challenges. Among the examples of such thinkers is Gandhi, the leader of one of the largest non-violent mass movements in the recent history of India with a significant influence abroad. As discussed in this chapter, a critical engagement with studies on the patterns of living of people and communities across Western/non-Western diasporas that are based on values, such as peace and non-violence, can help develop intercultural understandings and enhance education for citizenship. The chapter examines value-creating global citizenship education as a pedagogical approach to learning that has been developed as an outcome of studies on Gandhi and other Asian thinkers.

This study aims to develop a model to predict non-violent work behaviour (NVWB) among employees using machine learning techniques.

Four machine learning techniques (Naïve Bayes, decision tree, logistic regression and ensemble learning) were used to develop a prediction model for NVWB of employees. Also, 10-fold cross-validation method was used to validate the NVWB prediction models. The confusion matrix is used to derive various performance matrices to express the predictive capability of NVWB models quantitatively.

The model developed using random forest technique was identified as best NVWB prediction model, as it resulted in highest true positive rate and true negative rate, thereby resulting in the highest geometric mean, balance and area under receiver operator characteristics curve.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the pioneer studies that used machine learning techniques to develop a predictive model of NVBW.

Education as a weapon in the fight against conflict and violence remains widely debated in policy and academic circles. Against the background of growing political instability in Africa and the central role of the knowledge economy in twenty-first century development, this paper provides three contributions to existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to assess how political stability/non-violence is linked to the incremental, synergy and lifelong learning effects of education.

The authors define lifelong learning as the combined knowledge acquired during primary, secondary and tertiary education. Principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimensions of educational and political indicators. An endogeneity robust dynamic system Generalized Methods of Moments is used for the estimations.

The authors establish three main findings. First, education is a useful weapon in the fight against political instability. Second, there is an incremental effect of education in the transition from secondary to tertiary schools. Third, lifelong learning also has positive and synergy effects. This means that the impact of lifelong learning is higher than the combined independent effects of various educational levels. The empirical evidence is based on 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010.

A plethora of policy implications are discussed, inter alia: how the drive towards increasing the knowledge economy through lifelong learning can be an effective tool in the fight against violence and political insurgency in Africa.

As the continent is nursing knowledge economy ambitions, the paper is original in investigating the determinants of political stability/non-violence from three dimensions of education attainment: the incremental, the lifelong learning and a synergy effect.

This paper aims to conceptualize ahimsa at the workplace as an alternate coping response to negative workplace behaviours. The response strategy aims to impede conflict escalation and transform a hostile situation into a collaborative one.

The conceptualization of the indigenous construct bases upon Bhawuk's methodological suggestion on building psychological models from the scriptures (Bhawuk, 2010, 2017, 2019). The construct ahimsa explicates by synthesizing the micro-world (Bhagawad Gita, BG and Patanjali Yoga Sutras, PYS) and through the lifeworld of Gandhiji.

The conceptual analysis illustrates the efficacy of ahimsa as an alternate response to negative workplace behaviours. The definition delineates its three core characteristics, i.e. conscious non-violent action, self-empowerment and rehumanizing the perpetrator. Besides, it proposes to enhance metacognition, creativity and individual learning at the workplace.

The conceptual paper gives a new direction to management researchers on coping and responding to stress.

The present world is captivated by the global challenges of climate change, environmental and ecological degradation, challenges related to migration, inequality, conflict and unrest. The development process failed to appreciate and signify the role of non-value, non-materialistic and altruistic value of both living and non-living natural entities. Thus, a significant disconnect or gap between public policy and human well-being has been observed. The departure of human beings from their true self has also distanced humans from the rest of the species and ecosystem. The essence of altruistic value and its recognition is plausible only through the upliftment and evolution of the inner self. The interconnectivity of the inner and outer world can be perceived through self-evolution. A public policy that is driven by the force of self-enhancement and realization, connecting and synthesizing human and non-human interactions selflessly, is required for revolutionizing the development paradigm. Against this backdrop, Gandhian philosophy that values the individual and his relationship with his true self becomes instrumental in ethical transformation. The self-transformation, manifestation and realization of truth and love are deeply embedded in Gandhian Revolution. Gandhian philosophy is a phenomenal illustration of self-transformation based on self–realization and soul force (Satyagraha) that acts as a driving force for a paradigm shift. Gandhian thoughts recognize the otherness of others (either human beings or nature), embedded in the notion of ‘Sarvodaya’. Based on spiritual inquiry and ethical value judgement, and cosmic interdependence, the Gandhian notion constitutes a building block for a non-violent socioeconomic system guided by empathy and the law of non-possession. The twin models, ‘The trusteeship model’ and ‘Economy of Permanence’, advocate a spiritual inquiry and ethical value judgement in economics and governance. Addressing the economic problem of scarcity and choice, the attributes of decentralization, self-sufficiency and self-reliance envisage that individuals are satisfied with minimum consumption. In addition, non-violence, truth and love create a subsequent balance in ecology and the environment. Ethical responsibility is not just limited to socio-economic and political systems but also integrates environmental and ecological sustainability.

This chapter highlights an unexplored aspect of corporate social responsibility, that is animal violence and welfare. According to (Dadds, M. R., Turner, C. M., & McAloon, J. (2002). Developmental links between cruelty to animals and human violence. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 35(3), 363–382), cruelty against animals can be a predictor of future violence. If one wants to avoid violence in general, one has to think about ways to prevent violence against animals. No longer accepting violence against animals in the fashion industry, a sector that has a big impact on youth, can be a major step in the reduction of violence.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyse how non-violence against animals is integrated as a business strategy into the fashion industry and how companies are trying to influence each other. The methodological approach is based on qualitative comparative studies between small and large firms. Five cases are selected taking multiple levels of corporate sustainability into account: JBC, ARFshop, Doekjes en Broekjes, Bellerose and Fake Fur.

The research shows that large companies do more to benefit human welfare, whereas the smaller ones attach more importance to the environment. Yet all companies agreed that long-term relationships are crucial in partnerships and that the process of exchanging information is valuable in order to act in a transparent way. They are all aware that animal welfare and environmental welfare will gain importance in the future, and therefore something must be done about the impact companies have. Hence, they are implementing strategies at their own pace to benefit the welfare of animals. A change in mind set is growing, slowly but certainly and partnerships with NGOs can benefit this transition process.