Political theory covers within its fold certain related fields as political thought, political philosophy and political ideology. These are like sister parts of a particular discipline whose comprehensive study looks both perplexing and refreshing. A cynic may take it as a maze of overlapping contradictions and confusion, while its serious student may find it a lot of refreshing information about social and political phenomena. The reason behind it is that social and political issues change with the passage of time in respect of their nature and ramifications, and the theorists take different views and adopt different approaches to understand and explain what they call ‘social and political reality’. It depends on the broadness of their vision and the depth of their investigation from the standpoint of normativism, or empiricism, or a curious blending of both. While the greatness of the contribution of the Western thinkers and theorists to the stock of political theory and socio-political philosophy cannot be refuted, it cannot be taken as their exclusive domain if one acquires knowledge about such contributions of the great thinkers and theorists of the East. The book will meet the needs of the students preparing for the All India and State Civil Examinations. It will also prove a valuable textbook for postgraduate students of political science and socio-political philosophy.