India’s founding moment: The constitution of a most surprising democracy

Kadambi, Rajeev (2022) India’s founding moment: The constitution of a most surprising democracy. [Book Reviews] (In Press)

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Abstract

This work on the Indian Constitution and the intellectual history of modern India foregrounds an important argument about understanding Indian democracy through the founders of the Constitution. It argues that the founding moment of the Constitution created democracy through democratic politics. The author makes a compelling case for seeing the Constitution as a pedagogical project that aimed to create citizens for self-rule. The book covers the circulation of ideas and thinkers ranging from Gandhi, Nehru, and Ambedkar on the period spanning India’s transition to political freedom. The book gives close attention to elite deliberations of the Constituent Assembly entrusted with the legal and political framework for India. While there are extant accounts on Indian democracy as well as narratives on India’s constitution making,1 the unique contribution of this book lies in not seeing these two strands of scholarship as distinct but as a correspondence of ideas

Item Type: Book Reviews
Keywords: Political Ideologies | Democracy | Constitutional Law | Constitutions | Asia | India | History
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Law and Legal Studies
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of International Affairs
Depositing User: Shilpi Rana
Date Deposited: 29 Jan 2022 10:37
Last Modified: 27 Jul 2022 10:03
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/avab026
Additional Information: This is a book review of "India’s Founding Moment: The Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy" by Madhav Khosla, Harvard University Press, 2020, ISBN 9780674980877
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/954

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