What is Political Theory and Why do We Need It? PDF
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OXFORD INDIA PAPERBACKS W hat is Political Theory and Why do We Need It? Rajeev Bhargava OXFORD COLLECTED ESSAYS OXFORD INDIA PAPERBACKS WHAT IS POLITICAL THEORY AND WHY DO WE NEED IT? Rajccv Bhargava In this collection of essays, Rajecv Bhargava explains the constitutive features of political theory and the pivotal role it can play in modern, pluralist societies. He examines various facets of political theory from an Indian perspective and elucidates conceptual structures of secularism, multiculturalism, and socialism. He shows how politico-moral reasoning can shape appropriate responses to contemporary challenges of colonialism, terrorism, civil wars, denial of freedom of expression. massacres, and other forms of injustices prevalent in states and communities. Complex concepts in the philosophy of social science such as individualism, cthnocentrism, teleology, and social ontology have also been explored in this volume. This book will be of interest to social scientists, political theorists, philosophers, and intelligent readers in both non-western and western societies. Rajccv Bhargava is Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. “Rajeev Bhargava...makes the study of political theory less abstruse and more accessible to the interested reader.’ —Frontline 'Bhargava seems to have a particular strategy for making political theory comfortable or at home in India.' — The Book Review fio o t YEARS Cover design: Vinay Jain O ISBN 0-19-808839-6 OXFORD UNIVERSITY I’RFSS 9 7 0198 088 www.oup.com What is Political Theory and Why do We Need It? Rajeev Bhargava OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in India by Oxford University Press YMCA Library Building, 1 Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001, India © Oxford University Press 2010 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2010 Oxford India Paperbacks 2012 Second impression 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN-13: 978-0-19-808839-4 ISBN-10: 0-19-808839-6 Typeset in 10.5/12.4 Dante MT Std by Excellent Laser Typesetters, Pitampura, Delhi 110 034 Printed in India by G.H. Prints Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi 110 020 \ * *v ••* y**"'wx T’* ^ r I T1 ?• I * “ i~l l"\ I J K Y > t I ,E V A N C . v *«•,- f * i T A T T C K 4 t " f l ^ V ‘ What is t \ tX jf X-JL*/ A, -.....* X- V A Political Theory £ V and Why do We * 4 ./ J. X -*«!*. ^Av r -r r~.. ^ , Need It? i h i fy \, ,i .. / 1 i X. I .A *»*«» S~**\ I\ T A T T P !■' / J■ . s \ / ? \ I S «Y>>* .'1)1 N A R V \ L i N J \ .1 j X J I rr> a « I \ > \ % .. V L, s. N .1 .-. .1. \,i .V. ‘K \J T C< O P 1 J i\ ■X X Sw# -A.. \ r T"X T ~\ ! ! J i } ^ Jl__f -t n,., ki x. ii ^ | I \ / J- M T v p c / f / V i ^ 1 v* * 1 r -***" f A i I r\ .i. ‘A fine collection of insightful essays, each probing its chosen subject from a particular angle and all collectively offering a systematic and coherent perspective on India and modernity in general. It represents political philosophy at its best and brings a distinctly Indian perspective to the heavily ethnocentric Western political theory.’ —Bhikhu Parekh Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy, Universities of Westminster and Hull ‘Rajeev Bhargava is one of a very small number of political theorists who can write with equal cogency and clarity about high theoretical issues and hard political questions. He is consistently enlightening (and a pleasure to read), whether he is discussing holism, objectivity, and teleology or multiculturalism, censorship, truth commissions, and 9/11.’ —Michael Walzer Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey ‘Rajeev Bhargava’s work offers a rare combination of incisive concep tual analysis and a real familiarity with the problems on the ground that political theory is supposed to illuminate. Add to this his grasp of the difference in civilizational context between India and the West, and you have the key to this varied and wide-ranging collection, full of interest ing and important insights, some of which have already helped shape the international discussion on such key topics as the nature of secular ism. An important contribution to contemporary political theory.’ —Charles Taylor Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill University In memory of Gopi, Prakashxvati, Bisheshwar, and Harder, , and for the living link with them Saroj and Sheila Preface In the preface to one of his many books, political philosopher Brian Barry reminisces that on the eve of his application for the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics course at Oxford, his school teacher recom mended that he read A.J. Ayer’s Language, Truth and Logic. Twenty years later, before 1 left India for the same course, a reading list arrived that included Ayer’s book. 1 had not heard of it but was drawn to its brilliant title. However, when I rummaged through it, I could not make much sense of what was going on. Everything appeared to be in sharp contrast to what philosophy meant to me. Ayer’s book was written with incredible simplicity. For me, philosophy had to be dense and dif ficult. It contained terms that reminded me of physics lessons at school: explicit definitions; definite descriptions; empirical, factual, and general propositions; induction; verification principle; observation statements; and so on. In comparison, the philosophical terms to which 1 was barely accustomed were: existence, dread, ennui, anxiety, the absurdity of life, contingency, bad faith, alienation, and so on. My personal and emotion al relationship with the language of existentialism made it impossible to grasp the sense of this other, ‘simple’ but more mysterious one. The former was poetic, an insightful expression of experience. The latter was bland, joyless prose concerning the role of language and philoso phy in knowing a world uninhabited by humans. For one, philosophy was a deeper articulation of experience lived on the edge of the world, for the other, it was pure analysis, cold-blooded dissection. The assumption of an extremely tight connection of analytical philos ophy with logical positivism came naturally to me, as did a few months later, its identical link with liberalism. It took many years to realize x Preface that neither logical positivism nor liberalism have necessary ties with at least some forms of analytical philosophy. Once its rigidity and many contingent accretions were removed, analytical philosophy became a useful tool for precise arguments and lucid propositions that need not bear the imprint of positivism or philosophical liberalism. Careful attention to the use of words, conceptual clarification, and soundness of argument is important not only for philosophers but indeed for any scholar. Despite limitations, some aspects of analytical philosophy can usefully be employed to serve the moral and social world of human communities. Its ‘rational’ kernel can be separated from the dispensable shell! Readers might complain that the book has begun by flogging a dead horse—worn out exchanges between philosophers and social scientists that were dominant in the 1950s and the 1960s. However, themes emerge with varying inflection and urgency in different societies. A non-issue in one society is a livewire in another. Would the debate between modernists and traditionalists have concerned anyone in France or Germany between 1960 and 2000? Or, for that matter, the fierce public battle over secularism? Issues that have rocked India for over two centuries and which only now, at the turn of century, have begun to shatter Anglo-Saxon and European complacency. It seems more necessary and urgent to emphasize the utility of analytical tools and the significance of reasoning over values within social science circles in India than elsewhere. The decades of the 1950s and 1960s witnessed a crisis in the identity of western political theory. The principal worry that plagued several practitioners then was whether or not systematic political reflection can aspire to scientific truth. Once this concern dissipated, there has been nitpicking among political theorists over the true nature or core value of their enterprise but the entity called political theory is more or less unquestioned. Since art, religion, philosophy, and the sciences are clearly differentiated in the West, few have thought it relevant to start a discussion of political theory by comparing or contrasting it with music or seek resemblances at some deeper or higher level! However, political theory has no such trajectory in India where philosophy and politics seem to be everything and everywhere. No identity crisis is experienced in India by political theory because it appears not to have a distinct identity in the first place. So, it might not seem odd to talk in the same breath about art and political theory, as if the two were identical. Preface xi However, while this flexibility and open-mindedness has advantages, it has deep problems too; this extreme fluidity and seamlessness also hampers the practice of political theory. In the Indian context, a tenta tive clarification of what political theory is and how it relates to other modes of understanding and self-understanding is crucial. All essays in this book were bom from a conviction that public justification is required for suggestions, proposals, claims, and policies. Provided a realistic and non-rationalist understanding of reasons is available, it can safely be assumed that even when unarticulated, reasons guide actions. These reasons must be accessible to anyone who cares for them now or later. Equally, those who propose or oppose a certain course of action in society must give reasons. I do not mean to suggest that in every case actors must themselves furnish them. Every society has some people who properly articulate reasons, others who communicate them, some who simply receive them, others who are persuaded by them, some who guide or rationalize their own actions in their terms, and others who are provoked enough to question and challenge them. My point is not that every actor must perform all of these but rather that this work must be collectively done in every society. A second conviction that guides these essays is that moral and ethical perspectives are constitutive of most reasons for individual and collec tive actions. Human beings are inescapably evaluative, even judge mental. They may be unable to choose or compelled not to articulate their evaluations, but they cannot help make them. Many such evalu ations have an ethical or moral character; they are good or bad for the well-being of oneself or good /right or bad/wrong for others. Besides, formal education is not a necessary condition for such evaluations. It may fine-tune them but as easily create a cacophony. Sound moral and ethical judgements are dependent less on classroom lessons and more on rich lived experience. Interestingly, perspectives that guide most human beings are inter nally driven, laden with deeply conflicting multiple values. If so, single value doctrines that claim a monopoly of cognitive and moral truth are dangerous, even destructive. Many of these essays take cognizance of this imminent moral complexity and insist on the need for balanc ing values in human lives. In many situations, the best humans can do is make life tolerable. In certain contexts, an aspiration for minimal decency may be heroic. This does mean that dreams and strivings for
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