Political Theory and Thought : An Introduction

Contents: Preface. I. Political theory: 1. What is politics? 2. What is political theory? 3. Why do we study the classics? 4. State. 5. Sovereignty. 6. Rights. 7. Liberty. 8. Equality. 9. Justice. 10. Property. 11. Democracy. 12. Civil society. 13. Citizenship. 14. Identity. II. Political thought: 1. Aristotle on citizenship. 2. John Locke on natural rights and property. 3. Rousseau on inequality. 4. Mill on liberty and democracy. 5. Marx on state. 6. Kautilya on state. 7. Gandhi on Swaraj. 8. Periyar on identity. 9. Nehru on democracy. 10. Lohia on democracy. 11. Ambedkar on social justice. Bibliography. Index.

Political theory extends over vast domain and no book, however generously conceived, could present more that a very small fraction of it; so there must be some way of deciding what to include and what to leave out. Professor Ray has been guided by the following thought-suppose there is someone who knows nothing at all about the subject but who is willing to spend a modest amount of time learning about its various aspects.

This book Political Theory and Thought: An Introduction deals with some of the important concepts of contemporary political theory state, justice, equality, liberty, property, democracy, civil society and citizenship etc. analytically considering the views of political thinkers both Western and Indian ancient and modern on the same issues. It is instructive to know what Kautilya thought of the state in the fourth century BC in India and what Marx thought of the state in the nineteenth century. It is equally interesting to note, for example, Mill’s views on democracy together with what Indian thinkers like Nehru, Lohia and Ambedkar thought about democracy.

The books aims to enlighten an interested layman on key political issues as well as challengingly engage the interest of professional political theorists and thinkers.