How can we account for the apparent contradiction between India's high level of political violence and its success in sustaining a democratic political system? How has India coped during the turbulent post-Nehru period with that classical problem of post-colonial regimes--namely, how to carry through the task of socio-economic transformation and nation-building while sustaining an open and competitive framework? Myron Weiner, author of many benchmark works on the Indian polity, offers a broad overview of the central issues in Indian politics. Weiner chronicles the important changes and charts the continuities as well in the relationship between institutional structures and political practice. A major theme throughout this volume is the interplay between the violent struggles among India's many linguistic groups, its religious, caste, and tribal communities, and the country's political institutions. This volume will be of particular interest to professionals in the fields of political science, policy studies, public administration, and development studies, as well as journalists and policymakers.