Publisher's Synopsis
The essays focus on such issues as the nature of ascendent bureaucracy, biraderi, feudalism, land reforms, development strategy, religious intolerance and women's emancipation. They provide a reasoned explanation of the continued backwardness and persistent poverty in South Asia in the midst of affluence. The book consists of more than a dozen chapters related to the themes which have been the central focus of the well-known social scientist, Professor Hamza Alavi's work on social and economic issues in post-colonial South Asia.
