Part Two
SOCIO-POLITICAL, SCIENTIFIC AND
CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
There is wisdom, understanding and balance in the attitude and judgment of the common man in India, inheritor as he is of a great and ancient civilization. His wisdom and commonsense have been the main support of our democratic system.
India's foreign policy has international co-operation as one of its basic postulates. It has been actuated by a world vision which arose from its faith in the humanity and also from the fact that India is herself, with all her fascinating diversities, a world in miniature.
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3.
India and international economy
National and international developments in the political field today are getting so complex that they defy the methods and tools of only one discipline of study. Political science therefore tends to become more meaningful when it engages in fruitful co-operation with related disciplines like sociology, economics, demography, law and culture. On the other hand, the very complexity of the developments tends to encourage more and more narrow specialisation.
A specialist is often described as one who knows more and more about less and less till he knows everything about nothing and nothing about everything. It is necessary that political science should evolve a multi-disciplinary approach if complete and meaningful understanding of human societies is not to elude its analytical tools. This is all the more necessary when one, is dealing with the political system of a country of continental size and enormous diversity. This makes India perhaps one of the most exciting societies of the world for the political scientist to study, to analyse and understand.
I would like to offer my comments in some detail on two themes. (a) "Challenges to the Indian Political System" and, (b) "United Nations, 'Third World' and Developing International Political Economy". Before going into the specific challenges to the Indian political system, allow me to make a few general observations. The challenges before the Indian political system are both general and specific. In order to understand them, one must understand the unique freedom struggle through which India attained its independence, setting in motion the forces of liberation in Asia and Africa.