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Machiavelli's ideas are as important in our time as in his own. His insights and prescriptions help us make sense of today's political upheavals and natural calamities and reduce them to a working order. The chapters in Machiavelli Then and Now explore Machiavelli's central concerns: statecraft and order, liberty and citizenship, diplomacy and leadership, modes of strategization, the quest for empire - all set against the basic contention between autarchy, oligarchy and democracy. They also address the ethical and behaviourial factors behind political practice, such as force, suasion, ambition, corruption and vigilance in public discourse. The contributors consider the role of language, text and the imagination in Machiavelli, and they also bring the Machiavellian discourse closer to our own times, in relation to Gandhi, Gramsci and Althusser. The book will interest historians, political scientists and students of public policy; philosophers, rhetoricians and literary critics; and no less institution builders, diplomats and, administrators.

Populism and Its Limits is a response to the evaluative and celebratory approaches to populism in social sciences andhumanities. It seeks to study the phenomenon of populism, thoroughly consider its limits and, if possible, proposes waysout to other kinds of commitment in life, living and politics. It aims to formulate responses that take on the spurious and non-dialectical dissociation between thought and action, intellect and emotion, the people and the elite.

Time, Doubt and Wonder in the Humanities addresses a serious lacuna in humanities studies. It affirms our commitment to wonder and adventure in living by confronting the subtext that lies within the manifold worldly, social and political vicissitudes and tribulations. The essays in this volume speak to our times and make sense of the idea of temporality in general by using wonder as an inclusive metaphor, which engulfs fortitude, anguish, joy, providence, submission, precariousness and revulsion. Wonder could lead to curiosity to inspiration to doubt to questioning to indignation to seeking of justice. The book offers a benchmark in thinking about why we must take literature and art seriously in times of great political turmoil. It affirms that the shape and contour of literary studies shall depend on how the coming generation maintains a delicate balance among inspiration, doubt and faith.

Time, Doubt and Wonder in the Humanities addresses a serious lacuna in humanities studies. It affirms our commitment to wonder and adventure in living by confronting the subtext that lies within the manifold worldly, social and political vicissitudes and tribulations. The essays in this volume speak to our times and make sense of the idea of temporality in general by using wonder as an inclusive metaphor, which engulfs fortitude, anguish, joy, providence, submission, precariousness and revulsion. Wonder could lead to curiosity to inspiration to doubt to questioning to indignation to seeking of justice. The book offers a benchmark in thinking about why we must take literature and art seriously in times of great political turmoil. It affirms that the shape and contour of literary studies shall depend on how the coming generation maintains a delicate balance among inspiration, doubt and faith.

This book examines the literary, religious, and political aspects of the radical movements and various sects of the English Civil War. Featuring a chapter on John Milton, this book also addresses the legal problems that engaged the early modern radical reformers, the issue of radical religion as a negotiating tool and the limits of radical liberal thought.