Rekha Datta – författare

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of twenty-first century India. It explores the reality of the country’s cultural diversity which creates both harmony and tension. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book analyzes the political, social, cultural and economic landscape of India and investigates how the future might look for India. The book addresses key questions such as: How has India risen to be a major economic power? What role does sectarianism play in the world’s largest democracy? How do caste and gender affect the structure of Indian society? What is the domestic and international impact of Bollywood?Featuring maps, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to India for those who are new to the study of this most fascinating and complex of countries.

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of twenty-first century India. It explores the reality of the country’s cultural diversity which creates both harmony and tension. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book analyzes the political, social, cultural and economic landscape of India and investigates how the future might look for India. The book addresses key questions such as: How has India risen to be a major economic power? What role does sectarianism play in the world’s largest democracy? How do caste and gender affect the structure of Indian society? What is the domestic and international impact of Bollywood?Featuring maps, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to India for those who are new to the study of this most fascinating and complex of countries.

As the world is changing, many scholars, analysts, and policy makers agree that even as governments need to confront external threats, creating sustainable domestic environments is imperative as a policy priority. As events surrounding September 11, 2001 continue to remind us, marginalized sections of the population can become breeding grounds for dissatisfaction, disenchantment, and eventually, targets for terrorist groups. Throughout the cold war period, South Asia served as a strategic region in the bilateral rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union, coupled with China's careful scrutiny. In the post cold war period, several bilateral conflicts, the nuclear tests of 1998, the post 9/11 world in which South Asia has become a breeding ground for terrorists, entwined with an embattled, albeit a shared history, continue to make India and Pakistan a pivotal region to study.A timely analysis which starts with traditional approaches and combines them with new thinking within a human security policy framework, this book will contribute to a deeper and more holistic understanding of policy priorities of major players in a pivotal region of the world. It begins by analyzing security policies of India and Pakistan that have emerged in the context of geo-political concerns based on realist calculations. It also looks at the policies of the two governments in key areas such as the economy, education, public health, and safeguarding against gender-based violence. Concern with human security prompts analyses such as the one adopted in this book to argue that governments should empower and protect their citizens from serious threats to their survival. Home to a fifth of the world's population, large numbers of whom are reeling in poverty, where terrorism continues to be a concern, along with ongoing border disputes, India and Pakistan will find it imperative to make careful evaluations of this multipronged challenge to security. While it has relevance for regional policy priorities, this analys

As the world is changing, many scholars, analysts, and policy makers agree that even as governments need to confront external threats, creating sustainable domestic environments is imperative as a policy priority. As events surrounding September 11, 2001 continue to remind us, marginalized sections of the population can become breeding grounds for dissatisfaction, disenchantment, and eventually, targets for terrorist groups. Throughout the cold war period, South Asia served as a strategic region in the bilateral rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union, coupled with China's careful scrutiny. In the post cold war period, several bilateral conflicts, the nuclear tests of 1998, the post 9/11 world in which South Asia has become a breeding ground for terrorists, entwined with an embattled, albeit a shared history, continue to make India and Pakistan a pivotal region to study.A timely analysis which starts with traditional approaches and combines them with new thinking within a human security policy framework, this book will contribute to a deeper and more holistic understanding of policy priorities of major players in a pivotal region of the world. It begins by analyzing security policies of India and Pakistan that have emerged in the context of geo-political concerns based on realist calculations. It also looks at the policies of the two governments in key areas such as the economy, education, public health, and safeguarding against gender-based violence. Concern with human security prompts analyses such as the one adopted in this book to argue that governments should empower and protect their citizens from serious threats to their survival. Home to a fifth of the world's population, large numbers of whom are reeling in poverty, where terrorism continues to be a concern, along with ongoing border disputes, India and Pakistan will find it imperative to make careful evaluations of this multipronged challenge to security. While it has relevance for regional policy priorities, this analys

Fully updated and expanded throughout, this second edition of Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity, and complexity of modern-day India.This essential second edition highlights the changes that contemporary India has undergone over the last five years or so, including the following:• An analysis of the 2024 general elections, the resulting coalition government, and the charismatic rise of Prime Minister Modi, whose leadership has reshaped the political party system and consolidated his influence.• A discussion of India’s debates on secularism and the nation’s search for a modern identity amid tensions between state power and democratic ideals.• Insights into India’s growing global influence, its strained ties with Pakistan over the Kashmir region, and the impact of international conflicts on relations with Canada and the United States.• An examination of India’s rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy, the challenges of rural development, and the effects of globalization.• Reflections on the sustainability of India’s growth, the impact of the global pandemic, and the consequences of the climate crisis.Featuring maps, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal, fully updated, contemporary introduction to one of the most fascinating, culturally diverse, and complex countries in the world.

Fully updated and expanded throughout, this second edition of Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity, and complexity of modern-day India.This essential second edition highlights the changes that contemporary India has undergone over the last five years or so, including the following:• An analysis of the 2024 general elections, the resulting coalition government, and the charismatic rise of Prime Minister Modi, whose leadership has reshaped the political party system and consolidated his influence.• A discussion of India’s debates on secularism and the nation’s search for a modern identity amid tensions between state power and democratic ideals.• Insights into India’s growing global influence, its strained ties with Pakistan over the Kashmir region, and the impact of international conflicts on relations with Canada and the United States.• An examination of India’s rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy, the challenges of rural development, and the effects of globalization.• Reflections on the sustainability of India’s growth, the impact of the global pandemic, and the consequences of the climate crisis.Featuring maps, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal, fully updated, contemporary introduction to one of the most fascinating, culturally diverse, and complex countries in the world.

Offering a unique examination of India’s democratic political system by using the dual premises of justice and sustainability, this book argues that India's democratic trajectory – and the sustainability of democratic governance – depends on its capacity to deliver social, economic, and ecological justice to all citizens.India has a sustained record of democracy, unparalleled among postcolonial democracies, and is counted among the five largest economies in the world. Such successes, however, have been tempered by issues of inequity, resource depletion, and climate-induced displacement. Against this backdrop, the book posits that a mere procedural understanding of democracy is increasingly inadequate to address the challenges of growing inequality or climate disruption in India. The chapters in the volume explore how parties, identity politics, gender, education, economic and foreign policies intersect with justice and sustainable goals, challenging technocratic accounts of sustainability that detach environment from society. In doing so, the book ultimately provides a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced, and strengths needed, to stabilize India’s democratic present, and to ensure its just and sustainable future.Ultimately through its exploration of the conceptual nexus between democracy, justice, and sustainability, this book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students in the fields of South Asian politics, environmental politics, and studies of India, as well those interested in issues of democracy, justice, and sustainability more broadly.

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of twenty-first century India. It explores the reality of the country’s cultural diversity which creates both harmony and tension. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book analyzes the political, social, cultural and economic landscape of India and investigates how the future might look for India. The book addresses key questions such as:

How has India risen to be a major economic power?

What role does sectarianism play in the world’s largest democracy?

How do caste and gender affect the structure of Indian society?

What is the domestic and international impact of Bollywood?

Featuring maps, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to India for those who are new to the study of this most fascinating and complex of countries.

Contemporary India: The Basics provides readers with a clear and accessible guide through the richness, diversity and complexity of twenty-first century India. It explores the reality of the country’s cultural diversity which creates both harmony and tension. Covering issues the country faces both domestically and on the global stage, this book analyzes the political, social, cultural and economic landscape of India and investigates how the future might look for India. The book addresses key questions such as:

How has India risen to be a major economic power?

What role does sectarianism play in the world’s largest democracy?

How do caste and gender affect the structure of Indian society?

What is the domestic and international impact of Bollywood?

Featuring maps, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal introduction to India for those who are new to the study of this most fascinating and complex of countries.

In Inequality and Governance in an Uncertain World: Perspectives on Democratic & Autocratic Governments, the authors address structural and systemic inequalities in democratic and autocratic governments from a multidimensional perspective in nine world regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, and Latin America). Their focus is on issues of race, caste, class, gender, religion, culture, and ethnicity which has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fragility of democracies is only enhanced by the sobering reality of the climate crisis and the deleterious nature of disinformation through social media. However, just as the world has been witnessing a shift toward autocracy, a commitment to democracy can be also possible through a renewal of the social contract, calling for more equitable social, economic, and health policies, obliterating the intersections of inequality, and trudging toward a more sustainable future for all.

In the twenty-first century, democracies across the globe are in crisis. The strength of basic democratic institutions and core enduring political principles and values are eroding in key regions and countries. Authoritarian regimes are rising and populist leaders are emerging. Democracy in Crisis across the World weaves threads of history and politics in two parts to analyze how long this trend may last and what the future may bring. By first examining the state of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa, the second part of the collection highlights to democratic trajectory of India, China, Russia, and the United States. Ending with a look at how the world’s governments have responded to the coronavirus pandemic, contributors argue that unless democracy is defended with resolution and nurtured with resilience, it will fall.