The Indian State is the first of a four-volume research surveys and explorations in political science conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). While focusing on the review of literature on the Indian State during 2003-9, this volume goes beyond the confines of this period to explore links, continuities, and research trends since the 1950s. Exploring the themes of the social character of the Indian State, political economy, social policy, and law and rights, the volume provides a summary evaluation of the state of research on these themes. It also highlights research trends, provides a valuable bibliographic guide, and suggests possible lines of future enquiry. In the course of their analyses, the contributors capture the trajectory of the evolution of various perspectives and theoretical frameworks that have significantly informed the writings on this subject-institutionalism and neo-institutionalism in the 1950s and 1960s; pluralism and state pluralism as well as Marxism in the 1970s; cultural studies and discourse analysis; and critical studies that emerged at the beginning of the new millennium. © Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi 2013. All rights reserved.