Harvard Contemporary China Series 19. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press [distributor], 2018. xvii, 341 pp. (Tables, graphs, figures.) US$35.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-674-98710-4.
Compelling reasons exist to conduct comparative studies of China and India including similarly massive populations, rich histories and cultures, rapid development trajectories, and independence dates; however, there remains a lack of strong books that do so. Those that do often focus on the role played by regime type. With this edited volume, Prasenjit Duara and Elizabeth J. Perry contribute to filling the need for additional comparative India-China studies. Furthermore, they take a distinctive approach, arguing that differences in regime type alone “offer little insight into critical differences and similarities between the Asian giants in terms of either politics or performance” (ix).
Instead, this volume focuses on state-society relations, relying on convergent comparison as the framing methodology. As the editors explain in the excellent introductory chapter, convergent comparison involves investigating parallels between the two countries, both spatially and temporally, focusing on global forces as well as subnational currents and national and internal processes to assess the degree to which the two countries converge in response to similar trends and stimuli (2). The editors assert that while differing in regime type, there is considerable convergence between China and India in terms of goals and results.
The introductory chapter also usefully compares the histories of the two countries from the lead-up to independence through the present day (the appendix offers a helpful comparative timeline). The chapter then overviews each of the contributions before concluding by suggesting that convergent comparison can be usefully applied to other challenges such as political corruption and popular nationalism.
The volume, which arises from conference proceedings, comprises four sections with two chapters each, covering labour relations; legal reforms and the right to protest; public goods provision; and, transnational migration and investment. The volume is further divided into three historical temporalities dominated by a governing principle of the time. Temporality one (chapters 1–2) covers early state and nation building struggles; temporality two (chapters 3–4) addresses the logic of citizenship and rights; and, temporality three (chapters 5–8) focuses on responses to globalization and neoliberalism.
In section one, Frasier (chapter 1) and Suresh (chapter 2) utilize convergent comparison to study labour and its interactions with the state at the municipal level. Frasier compares Bombay (why not Mumbai?) and Shanghai, while Suresh focuses on Shanghai and Delhi. Both note the evolution of policy, describing the two governments’ successes at increasing their legitimacy by addressing the needs of the working classes—key constituencies—while demobilizing workers’ political power. Bombay achieves this via legal-bureaucratic means while Shanghai draws on mass political mobilization (themes appearing in later chapters as well). The result in both cases is industrial growth followed by successful engagement in global markets. Interestingly, success is achieved by leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation despite potential protections from India’s legal and regulatory system and China’s penetrating state. Ultimately, the authors convincingly conclude that intentional government absenteeism rather than differences in regime type, state capacities, and economic resources best explain treatment of workers (91).
In section two, Ruparelia (chapter 3) and Nair (chapter 4) analyze growing demands by the public in China and India for civil-social entitlements in a neoliberal, globalizing system. Both authors describe China as a more powerful, high state-capacity country with Ruparelia assessing the role of law and constitutionalism in state-society interactions and Nair focusing on relations between rural communities and the state. Both authors argue that China and India both face pressure from below to provide entitlements, and that as Ruparelia notes, regime-type leaves India more vulnerable to public pressures.
In section three, Dillon (chapter 5) and Kapur and Perry (chapter 6) note the impact of temporality through globalization and neo-liberal competition as drivers of the two countries’ efforts to provide services to their publics to reduce inequality and improve global competitiveness. Both chapters find that China is more successful than India at providing services—welfare (Dillon) and higher education (Kapur and Perry)—largely due to China’s ability to penetrate and control society in ways India cannot. Thus, China provides better welfare services than does India by overcoming what Dillon usefully describes as “veto-points”—where interest groups block change—that India fails to overcome. The authors assert that both states share similar goals and face similar domestic and outside pressures. They also agree that regime type did influence the states’ abilities to achieve those goals. As Kapur and Perry hypothesize, unlike in democratic India, China’s government legitimacy derives from successfully providing services, welfare and education included. As a result, and somewhat countering the argument made by Ruparelia, China’s leadership faces greater pressure to successfully provide services.
Section 4 leads off with a particularly strong contribution by Tsai (chapter 7) who effectively draws on the volume’s themes to compare the relationship between the state (including subnational governments) and society (including diasporic communities still connected to their place of origin). Recognizing many historical and contextual impacts on this relationship, Tsai highlights efforts by both states (irrespective of regime type) to nurture state-society relations in order to draw on diasporic communities to enhance local prosperity. Ye focuses on state efforts to attract FDI (foreign direct investment) from expatriates. Aligned with the conclusions drawn in other chapters, Ye suggests that the Chinese state’s greater penetrative ability allows it to more effectively attract FDI than does India’s. Regime type informs outcomes.
Overall, this volume makes a useful contribution to the field of comparative India-China studies. The range of issues covered is wide, and the approach provides a useful, informative, and original framework for analyzing the two countries. While many of the contributors clearly worked within the framework established in the introductory chapter, had all done so the volume’s contribution would have been greater. Readers would also benefit from a summarizing chapter that reiterates and assesses the initial argument, framework, and how the various chapters fit into the overarching assertion that regime type alone does not explain outcomes. Such a concluding chapter might also usefully expand on the suggestion made in the introduction that convergent comparison can be applied to other cases.
Jonathan Schwartz
State University of New York, New Paltz, USA