Introduction

This chapter discusses the main propelling reasons for the book. The chapter argues that the emergence and return of religion as a major phenomenon in our public and private spheres warrants a discussion of the same. The chapter holds that earlier the phenomenon of religion in developing country politics was seen from the points of view of Modernisation and Marxian theories and that both these theories have ended up in blind alleys. The chapter notes that in order to better understand the present upsurge of religion globally and in developing country politics we need to take account of the hermeneutic theory. In addition, the chapter notes that the contribution of Gadamer-Habermas debate in understanding the phenomena of tradition and religion is pivotal. The chapter also refers to the contribution of critical theory towards understanding the superstructural phenomena and contends that even in analysing developing country politics and their ideological formations we need a recourse to critical theory. Besides the above the chapter lays down the chapter plan of the book and navigates the reader towards the rest of the book.