India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 223-243, June 2023.
The article critically examines the presence of political and bureaucratic capture in public sector resource allocation in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The article applies robust empirical techniques to evaluate how the political and bureaucratic elite indiscriminately and disproportionally allocate public sector funds to meet two overarching ends: (a) to allow maximum misappropriation of public funds for their benefits and (b) to make constituency/district-specific allocations to buy political allegiance and promote pork barrel and patronage politics (political clientelism). For the empirical purpose, the article uses an unbalanced panel technique using data for districts from provincial-level sources. The empirical results show a strong capture and clientelism in the process of budget making and the allocations of resources/projects to districts/constituencies for incumbent politicians and senior career officials who are at the helm of affairs, making disproportionate budgetary allocations of public resources to their home districts or constituencies or the projects with much leverage of extraction (read bribes) in the process of project allocations, bidding and execution. The evidence suggests that districts, which are neither represented by the incumbency of provincial government nor by senior bureaucrats in ministries that make public policy, receive far lesser budgetary allocations than their proportionate share despite the prevailing poor social and economic landscape. Such capture suffices personal interests, supports clientelism in resource sharing and creates an inter-regional and inter-district/constituency disparity in terms of economic and social development within the province.
Book review: Hikmet Karcˇic´, Torture, Humiliate, Kill: Inside the Bosnian Serb Camp System
India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 264-267, June 2023.
Hikmet Karcˇic´, Torture, Humiliate, Kill: Inside the Bosnian Serb Camp System. Michigan Press, 2022, pp. 280, $85, ISBN: 9780472132966.
Hikmet Karcˇic´, Torture, Humiliate, Kill: Inside the Bosnian Serb Camp System. Michigan Press, 2022, pp. 280, $85, ISBN: 9780472132966.
The Belt and Road Initiative: Issues and Future Trends
India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 175-188, June 2023.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a China-led plan that involves infrastructure and construction projects in more than 140 countries, out of which 65 countries account for 30% of the world’s gross domestic product, 35% of the world’s trade, 39% of the global land, 64% of the world’s population, 54% of the world’s CO2 emissions and 50% of the world’s energy consumption (Du & Zhang, 2018, China Economic Review, 47, 189–205). The project announced in 2013 is often considered Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s dream. It quickly grew in sectoral and geographical complexity from the Arctic to deep oceans, to Latin American countries, Africa and even collaborations in maritime and outer space. Nine years into the making, the project suffered disruption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions and lockdowns led to suspension and slowdown in the project. However, the Chinese leadership continues to remain optimistic regarding the BRI and is opting for digital, health and sustainability models to keep the initiative running. The article analyses the strategic and economic significance of the BRI from its inception to now. It focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the BRI and stakeholders’ responses to the project, and looks into attempts by China to make it a success in the post-pandemic world.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a China-led plan that involves infrastructure and construction projects in more than 140 countries, out of which 65 countries account for 30% of the world’s gross domestic product, 35% of the world’s trade, 39% of the global land, 64% of the world’s population, 54% of the world’s CO2 emissions and 50% of the world’s energy consumption (Du & Zhang, 2018, China Economic Review, 47, 189–205). The project announced in 2013 is often considered Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s dream. It quickly grew in sectoral and geographical complexity from the Arctic to deep oceans, to Latin American countries, Africa and even collaborations in maritime and outer space. Nine years into the making, the project suffered disruption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions and lockdowns led to suspension and slowdown in the project. However, the Chinese leadership continues to remain optimistic regarding the BRI and is opting for digital, health and sustainability models to keep the initiative running. The article analyses the strategic and economic significance of the BRI from its inception to now. It focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the BRI and stakeholders’ responses to the project, and looks into attempts by China to make it a success in the post-pandemic world.
Book review: June Teufel Dreyer and Jacques deLisle (eds), Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen: Changes and Challenges
India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 279-281, June 2023.
June Teufel Dreyer and Jacques deLisle (eds), Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen: Changes and Challenges, Series: Routledge Research on Taiwan series. Routledge, 2021, pp. 334, ₹13581 (hardcover), ₹2793 (Kindle), ISBN: 9780367366865 (hardback), ISBN: 9780429356469 (e-book).
June Teufel Dreyer and Jacques deLisle (eds), Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen: Changes and Challenges, Series: Routledge Research on Taiwan series. Routledge, 2021, pp. 334, ₹13581 (hardcover), ₹2793 (Kindle), ISBN: 9780367366865 (hardback), ISBN: 9780429356469 (e-book).
Book review: Sergey Marochkin and Yury Bezborodov (eds), The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Exploring New Horizons
India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 274-275, June 2023.
Sergey Marochkin and Yury Bezborodov (eds), The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Exploring New Horizons. Routledge, 2022, pp. x–xx, 1–236, ₹9169 (hardcover), ₹4061 (Kindle), ISBN: 9780367772802.
Sergey Marochkin and Yury Bezborodov (eds), The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Exploring New Horizons. Routledge, 2022, pp. x–xx, 1–236, ₹9169 (hardcover), ₹4061 (Kindle), ISBN: 9780367772802.
Emerging Powers and Small Island Developing States: Leadership or Co-Option?
India Quarterly, Volume 79, Issue 2, Page 244-263, June 2023.
Recent developments in climate change-related negotiations indicate that there are emerging conflicts of interest between Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and emerging powers like India and China. Emerging powers have to address their developmental concerns while pursuing aspirations related to leadership in global governance. To take a leadership role in global governance structures relating to climate change, emerging powers need to pursue their interests while accommodating the concerns of their potential followers, which include SIDS. Increased conflict of interests between emerging powers and other sets of vulnerable countries could lead to adverse implications for the North–South divide in international environmental relations, which in turn will impact their leadership aspirations. Using the example of leadership in international relations and the statements made by the SIDS at COP26, this article concludes that the existing situation presents a challenge as well as an opportunity for emerging powers like India to take a leadership role in a reformed new world order.
Recent developments in climate change-related negotiations indicate that there are emerging conflicts of interest between Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and emerging powers like India and China. Emerging powers have to address their developmental concerns while pursuing aspirations related to leadership in global governance. To take a leadership role in global governance structures relating to climate change, emerging powers need to pursue their interests while accommodating the concerns of their potential followers, which include SIDS. Increased conflict of interests between emerging powers and other sets of vulnerable countries could lead to adverse implications for the North–South divide in international environmental relations, which in turn will impact their leadership aspirations. Using the example of leadership in international relations and the statements made by the SIDS at COP26, this article concludes that the existing situation presents a challenge as well as an opportunity for emerging powers like India to take a leadership role in a reformed new world order.
Can an Electoral System Ensure Real Representation? The Poona Pact and Preferable Dalit Representatives
Indian Historical Review, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page 25-46, June 2023.
This article challenges the traditional view that Dalits† gave up their right to representation when Ambedkar signed the Poona Pact and agreed to joint electorates, which allowed caste Hindus to elect ‘failed’ Dalit candidates of the primaries in the final polls. The article shows that upper-caste Hindus cast their votes for the same Dalit candidates in the final elections who received the highest Dalit votes in the primaries through an examination of the provincial elections in 1936−1937 and 1945−1946. The article argues that Dalit candidates elected either through joint or separate electorates cannot necessarily guarantee the autonomy of Dalit representatives. It contends that only Dalit legislators having the epistemic aspect emphasised by Ambedkar and the empathetic character underlined by Gandhi can be preferable representatives of Dalit interests.
This article challenges the traditional view that Dalits† gave up their right to representation when Ambedkar signed the Poona Pact and agreed to joint electorates, which allowed caste Hindus to elect ‘failed’ Dalit candidates of the primaries in the final polls. The article shows that upper-caste Hindus cast their votes for the same Dalit candidates in the final elections who received the highest Dalit votes in the primaries through an examination of the provincial elections in 1936−1937 and 1945−1946. The article argues that Dalit candidates elected either through joint or separate electorates cannot necessarily guarantee the autonomy of Dalit representatives. It contends that only Dalit legislators having the epistemic aspect emphasised by Ambedkar and the empathetic character underlined by Gandhi can be preferable representatives of Dalit interests.
Hegemony of Exotic Material Culture of the Adis: A Review on Cross-culture Interaction of the Tibetans and Adis
Indian Historical Review, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page 70-89, June 2023.
One of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, the Adis, lacked the skill to produce finished goods they used, yet they obtained them from Tibet by means of long-distance trade. Tibetan material culture adopted by the Adis was borrowed directly through cross-border trade and indirectly from the neighbouring tribes. The exotic goods had multitude of functions in the Adi society. The use of such goods in the Adi society had no relation with the purpose they were actually produced for. Some had different values in terms of utility. The cultural value of such goods got inculcated in Adi society due to their meaning-based application. In due course of time, some got indigenised and carried face value as wealth of the Adis. This paper aims at understanding the hegemony of the Tibetan material culture in Adi society. Focus shall be shed on the overview of the dynamism of material culture with an illustration which is prevalent at present too. It brought changes in the belief and socio-economic life of the Adis. It is significant to bring it to light because the appropriation of exotic materials played a vital role in the historical trajectory of the Adis. The study here is empirical as well as historical. Primarily, oral narratives of the persons who have witnessed this process during the second half of the twentieth century are considered in data collection. In addition, available written accounts are taken into account to theme out this paper.
One of the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, the Adis, lacked the skill to produce finished goods they used, yet they obtained them from Tibet by means of long-distance trade. Tibetan material culture adopted by the Adis was borrowed directly through cross-border trade and indirectly from the neighbouring tribes. The exotic goods had multitude of functions in the Adi society. The use of such goods in the Adi society had no relation with the purpose they were actually produced for. Some had different values in terms of utility. The cultural value of such goods got inculcated in Adi society due to their meaning-based application. In due course of time, some got indigenised and carried face value as wealth of the Adis. This paper aims at understanding the hegemony of the Tibetan material culture in Adi society. Focus shall be shed on the overview of the dynamism of material culture with an illustration which is prevalent at present too. It brought changes in the belief and socio-economic life of the Adis. It is significant to bring it to light because the appropriation of exotic materials played a vital role in the historical trajectory of the Adis. The study here is empirical as well as historical. Primarily, oral narratives of the persons who have witnessed this process during the second half of the twentieth century are considered in data collection. In addition, available written accounts are taken into account to theme out this paper.
Book review: Meeta Deka (Ed.), Urbanism in South Asia: Northeast India Outside-In
Indian Historical Review, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page 193-195, June 2023.
Meeta Deka (Ed.), Urbanism in South Asia: Northeast India Outside-In (Delhi: Primus Books, 2020), viii + 340pp., ₹1,195, ISBN: 9789390022335 (Hardback).
Meeta Deka (Ed.), Urbanism in South Asia: Northeast India Outside-In (Delhi: Primus Books, 2020), viii + 340pp., ₹1,195, ISBN: 9789390022335 (Hardback).
Book review: Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, State and Peasant Society in Medieval North India: Essays on Changing Contours of Mewat, Thirteenth to Eighteenth Century
Indian Historical Review, Volume 50, Issue 1, Page 196-197, June 2023.
Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, State and Peasant Society in Medieval North India: Essays on Changing Contours of Mewat, Thirteenth to Eighteenth Century (Delhi: Primus Books, 2019), 220 pp., ₹995, ISBN: 9789386552235 (Hardback).
Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj, State and Peasant Society in Medieval North India: Essays on Changing Contours of Mewat, Thirteenth to Eighteenth Century (Delhi: Primus Books, 2019), 220 pp., ₹995, ISBN: 9789386552235 (Hardback).