Contents: Introduction Chapter One. The Idea of the State: Ancient and Medieval (A Brief Outline) Chapter Two. Ideas in Context: The Origin and Development of Contractual Culture Chapter Three. From Erratic Movement to Contractual Movement Chapter Four. Authoritative Allocation of Movement 50 Chapter Five. The Emergence of Capitalism and the Rise of the Liberal State Chapter Six. Romanticism and Rousseau Chapter Seven. The General Will and the Nature of the State Bibliography About the Authors: A.V. Satish Chandra, Ph.D., SEFM, is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Osmania University. He did his Ph.D. from Osmania University, Hyderabad, M.Phil. from the University of Hyderabad and M.A. from JNU, New Delhi, in political science. He has been teaching in Osmania University from the year 1990 and has nearly 31 years of experience. He has been the recipient of various visiting fellowships to the USA, the TÜB?TAK Fellowship of Turkey and an alumnus of the US State Department. He has been awarded with Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Life Time Achievement National Award in Teaching, Research and Publications. He is recognized as a mentor by the UGC and the Ministry of Education and has been certified for the same. Dr Satish Chandra is also an International Eminent Fellow Member of the Scholars Academic and Scientific Society (SAS). Dr Chandra has published five books: Federalism and Decentralization in India for Better Governance, From Centralized Government to Decentralized Governance, Indian Politics in the Twenty First Century, Politics of Identity, Gender and Development and God in Western Political Thought (Viva Books). Maya Banerjea has an M.A. & M. Phil. in Political Science from the University of Hyderabad, and an additional M.A. in Counselling Psychology, with over 30 years’ experience of teaching Political Science at the college level. She has been an active researcher for more than three decades. She is also a certifed Career Guidance Counselor. Apart from being an academician, she has also been a product training specialist in Google India (Hyderabad) for 5 years before returning to academics.