Imaginary Institution Of India Author:Kaviraj, S. Sudipta Kaviraj is among India's most insightful political thinkers and analysts, and among the subtlest and most learned writers on Indian politics in recent times. Paradoxically, this has remained something of a state secret, because Kaviraj's writings on these subjects have been scattered in learned journals, many of which remain difficult to... more » access. The present volume fills a crucial gap in the literature on politics and political thought in South Asia. Among Kaviraj's many strengths in his quite exceptional ability to position Indian politics within the frameworks of political philosophy in the West alongside perspectives from Indian history and indigenous political thought. His work ranges over a wide terrain, including studies of the peculiar nature of Indian democracy.; the specifics of the regimes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi; political culture in independent India; the construction of colonial power; the relationship between state, society; and discourse in India; the structure of nationalist discourse; language and identity formation in Indian contexts; the relation of development with democracy and democratic functioning; and the interface of religion, politics, and modernity in South Asia.« less