ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the danger that communal tensions and a militant domestic politics pose to a steady course of improved relations with neighbors and others. It provides a portrait of the Indian economy emerging from deep crisis, making, comparatively smoothly, the massive policy and ideological shift implied by the abandonment of the “Nehruvian” model of a quasi-command economy. The book shows that most important domestic foundations of the Indian state are its constitutional and legal order and analyses central feature of the “public culture” of the country that bridges the class and the urban-rural divides. It describes the historical roots of subjects and styles of the present-day mass media. The book discusses how the economic reforms put in place by the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his impressive team of financial policymakers, led by Manmohan Singh, are progressing.
