ABSTRACT
India has been witness to the onset of the democratic processes that have resulted in the reconfiguration of its politics and economy. Quite a few Indian political theorists, under the spell of the American Political Science Association, followed suit. As for the Marxist writings on Indian politics, it remained under the spell of neo-Marxist critique in the form of underdevelopment/dependency/world systems that again undertook the ‘post-colonial state’ as the unit of analysis. Emergence of a more genuinely representative democracy has led to the sharpening of the line of distinction between or among the identity groups and the regions. Regional inequalities within the states in terms of income and consumption have been widening. As a consequence, India’s federal ideology has registered a marked shift as regional identity, culture and geographical difference now appear to be better recognised as a valid basis for administrative division and political representation. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
