This pioneering political theory textbook is a step towards making students do and evolve an Indian political theory, that is, theory born out of reflection on and engagement with Indian social and political practices. It innovatively embeds Indian cases and contexts in the theoretical discussions and involves students in applying theories to current issues. Without oversi This pioneering political theory textbook is a step towards making students do and evolve an Indian political theory, that is, theory born out of reflection on and engagement with Indian social and political practices. It innovatively embeds Indian cases and contexts in the theoretical discussions and involves students in applying theories to current issues. Without oversimplifying concepts, this textbook uses the conversational, context-specific style of a good teacher and recreates the flavour of the classroom inside its covers. Some of its special features are: An outline for each chapter highlighting its main elements, an introductory section discussing the concept, and rationale of chapter organization, cross-referencing of important terms, points for discussion and a detailed reading list.FeaturesA chapter outline for each chapter, which highlights its main elementsAn introductory section, discussing the concept and the rationale of chapter organizationCross-referencing of important termsPoints for discussion, which ask the student to link the discussion in the text to current issuesA detailed reading listTable Of ContentsPart I: What Is Political Theory and Why Do We Need It?What Is Political Theory? Rajeev BhargavaWhy Do We Need Political Theory? Rajeev BhargavaPart II: ConceptsLiberty V. SriranjaniEquality Ashok AcharyaJustice Krishna MenonRights Papiya Sengupta TalukdarDemocracy Janaki SrinivasanCitizenship Anupama RoyPower Nivedita MenonSovereignty Krishna MenonState Swaha DasCivil Society Mohinder SinghProperty Mohinder SinghGender Nivedita MenonPart III: IdeologiesLiberalism Ashok AcharyaSocialism Sunalini KumarNationalism Sunalini KumarSecularism Rajeev BhargavaPart IV: Political ArgumentsAffirmative Action Ashok AcharyaFreedom of Speech and the Question of Censorship Aarti Sethi