The NCERT this year has introduced a separate paper on Political Theory for students of Class XI. This change has come as a part of the larger project to revise and redesign the school curricula. Previously students were exposed to political ideas and theories primarily through the study of political ideologies, such as, Liberalism, or Marxism, or Fascism. Concepts like freedom and equality entered the picture only indirectly in terms of their place in a given system of ideas. In the new course the central focus is on concepts rather than ideologies. The objective of the course is to introduce students to some of the important ideas and concepts which form a part of the living tradition of political thought in the world.
In the writing of this book the approach which was followed was to try and involve the students in the process of learning, both as recipients and creators of knowledge. The objective was to encourage students to do political theory by training them to scrutinise and reflect upon the ways we make sense of and conceptualise our world, as well as to develop and extend their understanding. Hence, even as each chapter begins with some minimum, and at times commonsensical, understanding of a concept, it tries to introduce students to different dimensions of the concept and give them a feel of the range of ideas that can be marshaled while taking positions and offering reasons.
For all of you, the students, who will study political theory and be examined in this subject, we hope will be this approach to the study of political theory more engaging. We wanted you not only to learn about the ideas which have been developed by thinkers over the ages but also to be able to respond to them on the basis of your own experience of the world. As you will see, the concepts included in this book - freedom, equality, rights, nationalism - are used in everyday life not only by politicians and governments but by all of us. We speak frequently of our freedoms and rights, of the fairness and unfairness of things, of our desire to be treated equally, of our sentiments about nationalism or peace, or other such ideals. The concepts that we are going to study in this book are thus already part of our lives. We apply them in our personal life, in the family, in the school, or among our friends, and we also use them when we take positions on public policies or political debates.