analysis paper

China and India

A brief comparative analysis of political and economic institutions

15th February, 201, Asian Cities

China’s political and economic institutions

• China’s political institutions are exclusive, allowing no political freedom for the vast majority of its citizens, but they are progressive

• The state is deeply committed to development and China’s economic institutions are inclusive. Redistribution of land and ensuring social freedoms such as access to education and health

India’s political and economic institutions

• India’s political institutions are inclusive and progressive, parliamentary democracy has flourished for sixty years

• India’s economic institutions are exclusive, deeply unequal and extractive system of caste discrimination

• The entrenched exclusion is still reflected in India’s abysmal neglect of basic education and basic health care

• No land reforms were ever introduced except in few states

India-Governance and Service Delivery

• India has made a lot of progress on decentralization-greater fiscal empowerment of state governments

• Public spending on infrastructure, education and health are beginning to emerge as important factors in political competition alongside traditional identity politics

• However, India is hobbled by collective action gridlock, deficits in state competence and accountability and crony capitalism

China-Governance and Service Delivery

• Chinese command and control system is extractive and authoritarian in nature, but the inclusivity of its economic institutions has ensured a social equilibrium

• The Chinese state is also effective in both reforming and implementing policies

• A critical juncture could arise when China’s inclusive economic institutions, and in particular its growing and increasingly affluent middle class collides against authoritarian regime that lacks political credibility