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The most well-known elements of Montesquieu's political thought are his liberal constitutionalism and his emphasis on the need for a fit between a regime and a populace. But scholars have rarely sought to understand the theoretical relationship between these elements, and some have denied that they are meaningfully related at all. I argue that Montesquieu's liberal constitutionalism and his political particularism are theoretically harmonious and mutually reinforcing elements of a unified project. Montesquieu's liberal political philosophy possesses in-built sources of resistance to the rationalistic and universalistic political projects often associated with modern liberalism.

Constitution-Reading is a stony road to travel.This is doubly true of early nineteenth-century German constitutions. Workingin camera, their authors provided little public justification of their efforts, and consequently historians lack even the great recorded debates of a constituent assembly on which to base their interpretations. And because these constitutions wereoktroyierte Verfassungen, handed down, as it were, by gracious princes, interpretations of their provisions rest on the observer's views concerning the fortunes of German constitutional development as a whole.

Abstract:Fair value of equal political liberties is a key precondition for the legitimacy of a regime in liberal thought. This liberal guarantee is breached whenever a group is permanently or semi-permanently locked out of power. Given the convertibility, subtlety, and resilience of power, gross material inequality – produced by neoliberal economic policies – effectively locks the relative poor out of political power. Such lockout breaches the legitimacy constraint on a liberal constitutional democracy. Neoliberal democracies, sooner or later, become plutocracies. This possibility should concern not only liberal political theory but also liberal constitutionalism. The usual objections to a constitutional concern with gross inequality and plutocracy – based on concerns relating to transparency, counter-majoritarianism and flexibility – are useful design instructions, but do not rule out the constitutionalisation of egalitarian and anti-plutocratic norms. A whole panoply of legal and political constitutional measures – already familiar to or incrementally developed from liberal constitutional thought and practice worldwide – could be marshalled to effectively promote material equality and resist plutocracy. These measures – documented to map the possibilities rather than as a manifesto – seek either to prevent material inequality from becoming excessive or to prevent its conversion into political inequality. Good constitutional design, depending on the context, is likely to deploy several tools from both these toolboxes.

Introduction -- Part I. The moment of departure. Reconceptualizing conventional ideas and values -- Designing a nation amidst politico-ideological impasse -- Part II. The moment of manoeuvre. Shaping Indian democracy in a liberal mould -- Constitutionalizing India in the Enlightenment tradition -- Part III. The moment of arrival. A 'progressive radical' in the Gandhian universe -- Gender justice in inclusive governance mode --

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956), popularly known as Babasaheb stands out for his relentless battle against caste discrimination. He was a voice for the marginalized of India's demography that remained peripheral due to well-entrenched socio-economic and political prejudices.This book is an analytical account of how Ambedkar's socio-political ideas evolved as part of his wider politico-ideological challenge against self-motivated designs for exploitation of human beings by human beings. The author contends that it was an ideological discourse that he built in a context when dominant nationalist viewpoints seem to have hardly left space for any other discourse to grow. The book argues that Ambedkar's socio-political ideas were an outcome of his personal experiences of social atrocities which were justified as integral to the caste system. The book comprises six substantial chapters which delve into the socio-political ideas of BR Ambedkar, concentrating on those sets of ideas through which he established his claim as an original thinker in opposition to the dominant nationalist discourse. Unlike the most conventional studies of Ambedkar's thoughts and ideas, the book provides a new methodological tool to decipher their conceptual roots. It is therefore argued that Babasaheb's unique conceptualization of social justice was not just an outcome of his existential existence of being a Dalit, but an offshoot of his own understanding of liberalism as a mode of emancipating human beings from shackles of authority, power and domination.Examining Ambedkar's ideas, the book charts and examines the growth and consolidation of constitutional democracy in India since it was inaugurated with the acceptance of the 1950 Constitution. It will be of interest to scholars in the fields of Indian political theory, South Asian politics and history.