Examines issues of Indian politics at the right level of abstraction, offering an analytical framework that provides the basis for a theory of Indian Politics

Studies the impacts of democracy on different aspects of the political process as well as the implications of the Indian political experience for global democratic theorizing

Analyzes the three crucial processes of secularization, politicization and classization, which have long-term consequences for changes in the social structure and institutions of democracy in India

Autorentext
Essays by Professor D.L. Sheth, Honorary Senior Fellow, Former Member National Commission for Backward Classes, Former National Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Centre For the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).
Compiled and Edited byProfessor Peter Ronald deSouza, Former Director Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Former Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair of the Rajya Sabha.

Inhalt
Introduction : 'A Political theory of Indian Democracy' by Peter Ronald deSouza.- Section I: State, Nation, Democracy .- Chapter 1: Historicizing India's Nationhood: History as Contemporary Politics.- Chapter 2: State-Nation Building: The Making of Liberal Democracy.- Chapter 3: Crisis of Political Authority.- Section II: Parapolitics of Democrac y.- Chapter 4: Civil Society and Non-party Political Formations.- Chapter 5: Transformative Politics of Grassroots Movements.- Chapter 6: Law and Outcasts of Development.- Section III: Social Power and Democracy. - Chapter 7: Secularization of Caste and the Making of the New Middle-Class.- Chapter 8: The Dalit Question in Four Frames.- Chapter 12: The Great Language Debate: Politics of Metropolitan Versus Vernacular India.- Section IV: Representation in Liberal Democracy .- Chapter 10: Interests and Identities: The Changing Politics of Representation.- Chapter 11: Minority Politics: The Shifting Terms of Policy Discourse.- Chapter 12: Growth of Communal Polarization in Gujarat and the Making of a Hindutva Laboratory.- Section V: Emerging Challenges of Democracy .- Chapter 13: Revisiting the Reservations Policy.- Chapter 14: Entering the Twenty-first Century: Changes in National Politics and Discourse.- Chapter 15: Democratizing Global Governance: A Minimalist Perspective.