Intended as a text for the postgraduate students of political science, this well-researched book attempts to track the evolution of political ideas in the recent past and their background. It brings out the contemporary epistemological and methodological debates within the discipline and social sciences as a whole, and incorporates the latest developments in the field.Divided into forty chapters under eleven parts, the book deals with the core concepts and debates in political theory, and focuses on the state-society interactions. It tries to explain how the states, societies and cultures have responded to the emerging challenges thrown up by the social, economic and political factors, and the direction of the response. It also dwells on the impact of globalisation on current trends. Finally, the book analyses the ideas of modern Indian thinkers such as V.D. Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ram Manohar Lohia, B.R. Ambedkar and Jayaprakash Narayan.Besides the postgraduate students of political science, the book would also be useful to the aspirants of civil services examinations and the initiated readers.
