ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the impact of India's globalisation and its economic reforms on some vital aspects of India's society, culture, and political institutions. The most profound impact of globalisation is in the realm of governance, which was traditionally closely and almost entirely associated with government, but is nowadays increasingly dissociated with from government. From the perspective of globalisation, the expression governance reforms has replaced, as it were, structural reforms, or the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which received greater attention in the earlier years of globalisation and aimed at clearing more space for the market. The role of the States in the reforms process is crucial. Even within the existing constitutional set-up, the States have been allowed, by way of 'executive federalism', more freedom of action in matters of attracting investment and for engaging themselves in trade and commerce even with foreign companies and countries.
