![]() Accomodating DifferencesGurpreet Mahajan Edited by Varun Oberoi and Tariq Modood Edinburgh University Press, 2015, pp. 240, GBP 80.00, Rs. 7220.00 VOLUME XL NUMBER 3 March 2016 To those who describe Bhikhu Parekh as the leading political
theorist of Indian origin, essays in this volume will show that
such parochial frames of representation do not do justice to
his ideas. He is, and must be viewed as an eminent political theorist
of our time, whose work has contributed enormously to our thinking
about political concepts that we use to analyse the modern world
and confront the challenges of our time. His critical engagement
with the liberal tradition, his efforts to explore a space beyond liberal
nationalism, on the one hand, and communitarianism, on the
other, his reflections on questions of race, identity, nation and sovereignty,
cannot be ignored by students of politics and political theory
anywhere in the world. The papers in this collection, written in his
honour, make this amply clear. Many of the contributors engage
with aspects of Parekh’s thought with this understanding. To those
who are not sufficiently familiar with his writings,
this volume offers a glimpse of Parekh’s thinking
and gives them good reasons to read his works; to
those who are acquainted with his views, it offers
rich analysis that can only add to one’s understanding.
Over the years Bhikhu Parekh has written on
some of the most influential political philosophers
in the western and Indian tradition: Karl Marx,
Hannah Arendt, Jeremy Bentham, Gandhi (to
name a few). He has also reflected on concepts of
fundamentalism, socialism and violence. Yet, over
the last three decades it is his engagement with
questions of cultural diversity that have shaped
debates in academic institutions and the political
realm. It is therefore not entirely surprising that
this collection focuses primarily on his book, Rethinking
Multiculturalism, along with his work on
identity. Needless to say, questions of accommodating
differences, the conceptual and institutional innovations required
for this task, form the core of the volume.
The first few essays give us a picture of his political philosophy.
Taking his work on multiculturalism seriously, they try to uncover
the philosophical underpinnings of his theorization. Some reflect on
the nature of his non-monistic political philosophy and where he
stands vis-à-vis other pluralist traditions; others explore the major
intellectual influences on his thinking.The question of origins and
influences is always a tricky one and it reflects on the commentators’
own intellectual location as much as that of the subject analysed.
Raymond Plant speaks of the Hegelian ... Table of Contents >> |