E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

168 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtmany heads loses its shape, socialism too has lost its meaning.Be that as it may, socialism has something to do with socialcontrol or ownership of the instruments of production andwealth, equitable distribution, equal opportunity, and the like.Can any one claim that we are progressing towards these? Infact we are relinquishing social or State control in as manyfields as the World bank-IMF prescribes or advises, if that is abetter word. Can any one say what the World Bank-IMF wouldthink tomorrow of the creditworthiness of countries that use theword 'socialist' to describe themselves?Turning to Sovereignty, we see that threats haveappeared-internally, from those who have begun to challengethe paramountcy of the central state, and externally frommultinational financial institutions and corporations that seemto be anxious to step into the breach created by the terminationof the old and crude forms of imperialism, and are usingcompulsions and conditionalities to whittle away the economicself-determination and self-reliance of developing countries.The concept of sovereignty has to be viewed from morethan one angle; one obvious angle is that of the paramountcy ofthe State within the territory that it claims as its own. Inexercising this paramountcy, it depends not merely on theelectoral mandate that it receives periodically, and the armedforce with which it asserts its authority, but also on the varioussub-centres of the power structure in the society, in its territory.Another angle is reflected in the relationship of the State toother States; its ability or inability to exercise completeindependence in determining, defending, and promoting theinterests of the people it represents, without being inhibited bythe political, military, or economic power of another State. Inthe olden days, the standard way of imposing these inhibitionswas through conquest and political domination as one sees inimperialism or its milder versions. Political domination was