Understanding Contemporary India

Understanding Contemporary India: Critical Perspectives brings together contributions from scholars and teachers of the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. This Reader examines the peculiarities of Indian democracy the character of its political institutions and patterns of governance and the remarkable paradoxes that co-exist in what is easily the most diverse society in the world perceived from whatever angle one chooses socially, culturally, geo-ethnically, politically and intellectually. The widespread belief that India is an emerging power on the world stage cannot hide the fact that India faces many grave problems and difficulties even as it is equipped with significant material and cultural resources to tackle them. This collectively agreed project deals with the central issues which confront India today. This volume will be of great interest to not only the undergraduate and graduate students of Delhi University, but also to the students of other universities, as well as to a more general readership keen to understand how practicing political scientists view the various processes shaping contemporary India.

Achin Vanaik is Head, Department of Political Science, Delhi University. He writes widely on the political economy of India, International Relations, nuclear disarmament, secularism and communalism. Rajeev Bhargava is Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi. He writes widely on issues of secularism, Indian Constitution, methodological individualism and on key issues in political theory.