Introduction: time for a new Orientalism? -- PART I What is political theory meant to do? -- 1 The thick and thin of svaraj -- 2 Political theory and comparative political theory -- 3 What is Indian political theory? -- PART II The inadequacy of transatlantic political theory -- 4 Theories of 'our' condition: Habermas and the post-secular turn -- 5 Theories of 'our' oppression: Žižek and the critique of human rights -- 6 Theories of 'our' liberation: Rawls, Sen, and the romance of global justice -- 7 An unkindness of theories: transatlantic Marxism, post-structuralism, and postcolonial ethnographies -- PART III Preconditions for svaraj -- 8 Tradition, hybridity, equality: tarrying with the negative -- 9 Gandhi and Ambedkar -- 10 Dalit svaraj: the precondition for authentic Indian political theory -- Conclusion: toward a political theory of svaraj -- Index