Challenges conventional theoretical models describing the structure of modernity and its global dissemination, and attempts to offer some revisions, focusing on modernity in non-Western societies. It is argued that typical modernity theories, e.g., those of Karl Marx & Max Weber, are erroneously based on the assumptions that (1) modernity is a homogenous process attributable to a single causal principle, and (2) the spread of modernity from the West tends to produce societies similar to the West; societies that defy this pattern are not sufficiently modernized. Flaws in this reasoning are exposed and illustrated with a case study of political modernity in India. Analysis of India’s postcolonial development of a modern state, nationalism, and democracy shows that each is characterized by distinctively modern institutions and ideas, though they have no recognized equivalents in the modern West.
