Indian Politics in Comparative Perspective

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Approaches to the Study of Indian Politics and Nature of the State in India: Liberal, Marxist, and Gandhian

Introduction

One of the most ancient spheres of intellectual enquiry, politics was originally seen as an arm of philosophy, history and law. Its central purpose was to uncover the principles upon which human society should be based. From the late nineteenth century onwards, however, this philosophical emphasis was gradually displaced by an attempt to turn politics into a scientific discipline. The high point of this development was reached in the 1950s and 1960s, with an open rejection of the earlier tradition as meaningless metaphysics. Since then, however, enthusiasm for a strict science of politics has waned, and there has been a renewed ...