Kautilya&#039;s Arthashastra: An Intellectual Portrait

Prof. Subrata K. Mitra Ph.D. (Rochester, USA); Dr. Michael Liebig

doi:10.5771/9783845272344

Summary

Indien ist eine aufstrebende Macht in der multipolaren Welt. Dieses Buch präsentiert die endogenen politischen Ideen und das strategische Denken, die diesem Aufstieg zugrunde liegen. Eine wesentliche Quelle dieser Ideen ist das Arthashastra des Kautilya – eine vormoderne Abhandlung zur Staatskunst und ein Grundlagenwerk der Politikwissenschaft. Bislang wurde Kautilya – ein Zeitgenosse des Aristoteles – von der Politikwissenschaft und der Theorie der Internationalen Beziehungen weitgehend ignoriert oder, wenn er überhaupt zur Kenntnis genommen wird, als der „indische Machiavelli“ tituliert. Diese Charakterisierung Kautilyas verfehlt gänzlich den Reichtum und die Tiefe seines intellektuellen Beitrages, der mit der „Politik“ des Aristoteles vergleichbar ist. Einige wenige herausragende Vertreter der westlichen Politischen Theorie wie Max Weber und Hans J. Morgenthau haben die intellektuelle Leistung Kautilyas anerkannt. In Südasien steht Kautilya noch außerhalb des akademischen Mainstreams und genießt nur geringe Aufmerksamkeit in der öffentlichen Meinung. Trotz der akademischen Nichtbeachtung ist die indische Lebenswelt – in ihren institutionellen Praktiken – durchdrungen vom politischen Erbe des vormodernen Indien, das prägnant im Arthashastra des Kautilya zum Ausdruck kommt. Dies wird von den Autoren anhand der Konzepte „Modernität der Tradition“ und „Reaktivierung der Vergangenheit“ zur Bewältigung aktueller politischer Probleme untersucht. Diese Konzepte sind Schlüsselfaktoren zum Verständnis der Belastbarkeit und Stabilität der hybriden politischen Institutionen und des demokratischen Systems in Indien. „Kautilya’s Arthashastra: an Intellectual portrait – Classical Roots of Modern Politics in India“ ist ein unverzichtbarer Schlüsseltext zum Verständnis des heutigen Indien und ein wesentlicher Beitrag zur Regionalforschung Südasien, zur Vergleichenden Politikwissenschaft und zur globalen Politischen Theorie.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2016
ISBN-Print: 978-3-8487-2764-3
ISBN-Online: 978-3-8452-7234-4
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Moderne Südasienstudien - Modern South Asian Studies
Volume: 5
Language: English
Pages: 468
Product type: Book Titles

Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis No access Pages 1 - 21
Introduction No access Pages 22 - 29
1. 1 The work and its author No access
2. 2 The Arthashastra’s oral and written transmission No access
3. 3 A methodological approach to Kautilya’s Arthashastra No access
4. 1. 4.1 Max Weber’s political sociology: key categories No access
  2. 4.2 Weber’s concept of the patrimonial state in India No access
  3. 4.3 Socio-religious foundations of the patrimonial state in ancient India No access
  4. 4.4 Weber on the ‘Machiavellianism’ of the patrimonial state in ancient India No access
5. 5 The key features of Kautilya’s Arthashastra No access
6. 1. Chapter 1: Kautilya’s introduction to his work No access
  2. Chapter 2: Philosophy is the benchmark No access
  3. Chapter 3: The caste order: the state’s social foundation No access
  4. Chapter 4: The right use of the state’s coercive power No access
  5. Chapter 5: The scientific education of the ruler No access
  6. Chapter 6: Political anthropology and the ruler’s character formation No access
  7. Chapter 7: Monarchy is not despotism: the political anthropology of power No access
  8. Chapter 8: Selecting advisers and ministers No access
  9. Chapter 9: Qualification of and deliberation with advisers and ministers No access
  10. Chapter 10: Vetting advisers and ministers No access
  11. Chapter 11: The secret service, Part I No access
  12. Chapter 12: The secret service, Part II No access
  13. Chapter 13: Internal security No access
  14. Chapter 14: Subversion of foreign states No access
  15. Chapter 15: Planning and conducting operations against foreign states No access
  16. Chapter 16: Diplomacy No access
  17. Chapter 17: The problem of royal succession, Part I No access
  18. Chapter 18: The problem of royal succession, Part II No access
  19. Chapter 19: The ruler – the first servant of the state and the people No access
  20. Chapter 20: The personal security of the ruler, Part I No access
  21. Chapter 21: The personal security of the ruler, Part II No access
7. 1. 7.1 State factor swamin: the ruler No access
  2. 7.2 State factor amatya: the minister (government/state bureaucracy) No access
  3. 7.3 State factor janapada: the people of the land No access
  4. 7.4 State factor durga: the fortress (capital city) No access
  5. 7.5 State factor kosa: the Treasury No access
  6. 7.6 State factor danda: coercive power of the state (armed forces, secret service and police) No access
  7. 7.7 State factor mitra: the ally in foreign policy No access
8. 8 The seven prakriti constitute state power No access
9. 1. 9.1 The correlation of forces No access
  2. 9.2 The strategic goals of Kautilyan foreign policy No access
  3. 9.3 The mandala scheme and some misconceptions thereof No access
10. 1. 10.1 Kautilyan raison d’état as optimization of the state factors No access
  2. 10.2 Kautilyan raison d’état: the normative dimension No access
11. 11 The concept cluster upayas: the four basic methods of politics No access
12. 12 Kautilya’s political anthropology No access
13. 13 Kautilya’s assumption about politics and the theory of Political Realism No access
1. 1 Kautilya and modern India: methodological and theoretical approaches No access
2. 1. 2.1 Culture and longue durée history No access
  2. 2.2 Cultural continuity in India No access
  3. 2.3 Diversity: the basic premise of Indian culture No access
  4. 2.4 The plural paradigm of Indian culture No access
  5. 2.5 Cohesiveness within plurality: the ‘value ideas of the epics’ No access
  6. 2.6 India as ‘geo-cultural space’ No access
  7. 2.7 Cultural space and political space: the Maurya Empire as precedent No access
  8. 2.8 External influences on Indian culture No access
3. 1. 3.1 The term ‘endogenous politico-cultural resources’ No access
  2. 3.2 Kautilya in the spectrum of India’s politico-cultural resources No access
  3. 1. 3.3.1 Kautilya’s holistic understanding of political theory and statecraft No access
    2. 3.3.2 The normative dimension of Kautilya’s Arthashastra No access
    3. 3.3.3 Kautilya’s secularism and his relativization of caste status No access
    4. 3.3.4 Kautilya’s political economy No access
    5. 3.3.5 Kautilya and the political classics of other cultural spaces No access
4. 1. 4.1 Nehru's intellectual engagement with Kautilya 1930-1944 No access
  2. 4.2 Kautilya and the Arthashastra in Nehru’s Discovery of India No access
  3. 4.3 Kautilya’s significance for Nehru as Prime Minister No access
  4. 1. 4.4.1 How profound was Nehru’s study of Kautilya’s Arthashastra? No access
    2. 4.4.2 Nehru: a political realist in the Kautilyan tradition No access
    3. 4.4.3 Nehru as ‘political idealist’ No access
    4. 4.4.4 ‘Nehruvianism’ as synthesis of realism and idealism No access
    5. 4.4.5 The Kautilyan triumvirate of modern India: Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel No access
5. 1. 1. 5.1.1 A survey in a phenomenological perspective No access
    2. 5.1.2 Kautilya’s presence in symbolic and media objectifications No access
    3. 5.1.3 The ‘Kautilya metaphor’ No access
  2. 5.2 Kautilya’s discursive presence in contemporary India: ‘re-use of the past’ No access
  3. 5.3 The ‘re-use’ of Kautilyan thought in political discourse No access
6. 1. 6.1 The puzzle of Kautilya’s latent ideational presence No access
  2. 6.2 Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concept of habitus No access
  3. 6.3 The habitus as repository of latent idea-contents No access
  4. 6.4 The latent pre-understanding of Kautilyan thought via the Indian literary classics No access
  5. 6.5 Kautilyan thought as latent ideational ingredient of the habitus of the Indian strategic community No access
  6. 1. 6.6.1 Grand strategy and ‘hard’ realism No access
    2. 6.6.2 Strategic autonomy No access
    3. 6.6.3 The state and state capacity No access
    4. 6.6.4 Economic development and national security No access
    5. 6.6.5 The importance of internal security No access
    6. 6.6.6 Contemporary Kautilyan echoes: epiphenomenon sans conceptual depth? No access
  7. 6.7 Latent Kautilyan thought-figures in the field of ‘popular politicizing’ No access
7. 1. 7.1 The concept of strategic culture No access
  2. 7.2 Indian strategic culture No access
  3. 7.3 The role of Kautilya in the academic discourse on Indian strategic culture No access
  4. 7.4 Kautilya and Indian strategic culture in the political discourse No access
8. 1. 8.1 Kautilya’s absence in Indian academia No access
  2. 8.2 The Anglo-American influence in Indian universities No access
  3. 8.3 Sanskrit: atrophy of language skills No access
  4. 1. 8.4.1 The positivist approach No access
    2. 8.4.2 Marxism and Indian social sciences No access
    3. 8.4.3 Kautilya and International Relations theory in India No access
    4. 8.4.4 Social constructivism No access
    5. 8.4.5 Postcolonial theory No access
9. 1. 9.1 A ‘program of recovery’ for endogenous politico-cultural resources No access
  2. 1. 9.2.1 Kautilya’s Arthashastra finds its way into the Political Science curricula No access
    2. 9.2.2 ‘Postmodernism meets Kautilya’ No access
  3. 1. 9.3.1 The IDSA Kautilya discourse in 2012 No access
    2. 9.3.2 The IDSA Kautilya discourse in 2013 No access
    3. 9.3.3 The IDSA Kautilya discourse in 2014 No access
1. 1 Hybridity and the postcolonial state No access
2. 1. 2.1 The quintessence of the modern state and the Kautilyan idea of raison d’état No access
  2. 2.2 The Kautilyan state and the people No access
  3. 2.3 The political economy of the Kautilyan state No access
  4. 2.4 The Kautilyan state: centralization and autonomous spaces No access
  5. 2.5 The Kautilyan state and its legal system No access
  6. 2.6 Social hierarchy and rational bureaucracy No access
  7. 2.7 The Kautilyan capital city No access
3. 3 Kautilyan thought, ‘re-use of the past’ and ‘political habitus’ No access
4. 4 The postcolonial condition: the hybridity of the ‘modern’ state in transitional societies No access
5. 5 Hybridization as a political strategy of dominance and resistance No access
6. 6 Satyagraha: the Gandhian conflation of modernity and tradition No access
7. 1. 7.1 Ontology of the state: individualist and communitarian No access
  2. 7.2 The Congress ‘system’: bridging colonial rule and competitive politics No access
  3. 7.3 The economy – modern, traditional, liberal, socialist and Gandhian, all at the same time No access
  4. 7.4 Self-rule and shared rule: combining cultural diversity and the federal structure No access
  5. 7.5 Indian Personal Law: conflating the secular state and sacred beliefs No access
  6. 7.6 The modern state and cultural diversity: the three language formula No access
  7. 7.7 Social hierarchy and rational bureaucracy No access
  8. 7.8 Public buildings and images of the hybrid state No access
8. 8 A dialectic of the ‘pure’ and the ‘hybrid’: implications of the Indian case for a general theory of state formation in transitional societies No access
1. 1 Culture, structure or political capital? Some general lessons of India’s counterfactual democracy No access
2. 2 The impact of path dependence on transition to democracy and its consolidation No access
3. 1. 3.1 Electoral mobilization and appropriate public policy No access
  2. 3.2 Institutional arrangement and countervailing forces No access
  3. 3.3 Asymmetric but cooperative federalism: balancing ‘unity and diversity’ No access
4. 4 Democracy in general and in the non-Western context No access
E The ‘Kautilyan moment’, the power-knowledge matrix and the genealogy of global political theory No access Pages 429 - 437
Glossary of Sanskrit/Hindi Terms No access Pages 438 - 440
Bibliography No access Pages 441 - 468