The strategy of this thesis is to draw attention to the lack of a coherent account of domination in the main traditions of theory and analysis considered. The thesis then critiques these three main traditions of analysis and draws on the the methodological lessons drawn to propose a revised framework for interpreting domination. This framework is then evaluated with reference to the case of nonviolence and the work of the leading strategists of nonviolence, Matatma Gandhi and Gene Sharp in particular.

The thesis is organised in two parts.

Part One examines Weberian, critical theoretical, and political theological approaches to domination and concludes with a proposed revised framework for interpreting domination. Part Two evaluates the revised framework for interpreting domination by applying it to the case of nonviolence and the work of Gandhi and Sharp.

The research result of the thesis is that the revised framework for interpreting domination needs to be reformulated in the light of the evaluation and its potential value for peace research. Further proposals for such a reformulation and relevant research programmes are collected in a concluding chapter.