The book is a modest attempt to understand the linkages between associational life and democracy from an Indian perspective. The discourse on associational living and democracy has been looked at largely in the context of western liberal values. The literature with respect to the latter aspect is numerous and also provides valuable theoretical insight and empirical evidences towards the fact that the intermediary associations help enrich democratic values, even though there may be certain instances, which may indicate that this linkage needs to be looked at critically. In this background, the book argues that understanding of associational life under Indian cond­­­­itions differs fundamentally from those of western societies. The Indian societyis not composed of ‘unencumbered selves’. The issueis not that whether India has a strong tradition of associations, and hence vibrant democracy, as per the western liberal standards. The issue is the context of democratisation and inclusion of additional concepts and categories to appreciate the meaning of associativeness and its linkages with democracy.

Praveen Kumar, a Ph.D in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi is currently an Associate Professor at the Centre for Political Studies, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya. Formerly, he has served as an Associate Professor at the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal University (MU), Manipal, Karnataka. He has a professional experience in teaching, data-driven inter-disciplinary research and analysis and project management of over 13 years. He has also worked with Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and Institute for Conflict Management (ICM) in New Delhi.He has many publications to his credit in journals of national and international repute, including Economic and Political Weekly, Fautlines, Strategic Analysis, Asian Affairs and World Focus. In addition, he has contributed in project reports, chapters in books and articles on web-portals.