ABSTRACT
This chapter describes naive appearance India's 'style' of politics, which draws on symbols from culture and religion, and modern political institutions and the market, is both complex and sophisticated. The wrangling within India's political establishment regarding the nuclear weapons, anti-nuclear movements and the ambiguity of India's nuclear doctrine, however, lead to global perplexity about the real intentions that underpin India's nuclear capacity. The combination of diversity and inequality, the bane of many developing societies, does not appear to disturb the stability of India's political system. Social and economic reform have helped by facilitating the entry of groups that had no access to power before into the civil service, new occupations and enter the political arena. In the process of close to seven decades of competitive politics, social mobility and democratic transition, India's institutions have held together and evolved, in response to changing times. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
