Social Studies 98Pc: Comparing China and India

Social Studies 98pc: Comparing China and India Spring 2017 Tuesday 1-3 pm

Prof. Nara Dillon Government & East Asian Languages & Civilizations [email protected] Office Hours: Wed. 2-4 pm or by appointment Room 230, 2 Divinity Ave.

What difference does democracy make? What difference does communism make? Both China and India achieved national liberation in the late 1940s as predominantly agricultural and poor societies. From those similar starting points, India established one of the most durable democracies in the developing world and China one of the most durable communist regimes. Their comparison provides a "natural experiment" that allows us to explore some of the big questions of comparative politics: What are the origins of dictatorship and democracy? Do authoritarian regimes have an advantage in engineering economic development? Do democracies achieve better results in social policy? How do ethnic and religious divisions interact with democratic and authoritarian politics? How do these regimes shape each country's approach to problems such as global warming? We will read both classic comparative analyses as well as contemporary cutting-edge research in political science and economics in this course. In addition, students will write their own research papers on any topic related to the course to get some experience with the work involved in doing a senior thesis.

Assignments: Reading assignments will be available through the course website. As a seminar, preparation and active participation in class discussion every week is expected.

The writing assignments culminate in a 20-25 page research paper on any topic students choose. Students will start with an annotated bibliography, then write a literature review and a preliminary analysis of their primary sources. These intermediate assignments will all contribute to the final paper.

Student grades will be assessed on the basis of seminar participation and a final research paper. The final grade will be determined as follows:

Weekly Participation & Conference Presentation (20%) Annotated Bibliography (5%) Literature Review (20%) Data Analysis (5%) Final Paper (50%)

1 SEMESTER SCHEDULE:

Week 1 (1/24): Why compare China and India? How?

Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, Hunger and Public Action, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Ch. 11 China and India

Yuen Yuen Ang, "Authoritarian Restraints on Online Activism Revisited: Why "I-Paid-a-Bribe" Worked in India but Failed in China" Comparative Politics (Oct. 2014): 21-40.

Mahmood Kooria, "Between the Walls of Archives and Horizons of Imagination: An Interview with Amitav Ghosh" Itinerario 36:3 (2012): 7-18.

For reference: Todd Landman, Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics, Ch. 1-3.

PART I: HISTORICAL LEGACIES AND POLITICAL OUTCOMES

Week 2 (1/31): State Building: How did imperial China create a stronger state than imperial India? What legacy has this history left on the modern state?

Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011. Preface, Ch. 1, 7-12. (81)

Lant Pritchett, "A Review of Edward Luce’s In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India" Journal of Economic Literature 47:3 (2009): 771-780.

Week 3 (2/7): Nation Building: How did imperialism shape nationalism in India and China?

Peter van de Veer, The Modern Spirit of Asia: The Spiritual and the Secular in China and India, Princeton University Press, 2013. Ch. 4, 6, 8

Meera Nanda, "Hindu Triumphalism and the Clash of Civilizations" Economic and Political Weekly (2009): 106-114.

Helen Gao, “Land of Many Nationalisms” Dissent Spring 2013: 30-35.

Week 4 (2/14) Leadership: How did Mao and Gandhi emerge as political leaders? Why was their leadership so different? What legacy have they left for current leaders?

Jonathan Spence, Mao Zedong: A Life, Penguin Books 2006. Ch 4-8 (75 pgs)

Joseph Lleveld, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle with India, Ch. 5-6 (70 pgs)

2 Elizabeth Economy, "China's Imperial President: Xi Jinping Tightens his Grip" Foreign Affairs 93 (2014): 80.

Badri Narayan, "Modi's Modus Operandi in the 2014 Elections" Economic and Political Weekly (May 17, 2014): 12-14.

Annotated Bibliography Due Friday February 17

Week 5 (2/21): Revolution vs. Democratization: Why did China and India establish such different political regimes on gaining independence?

Barrington Moore, Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Beacon Press, 1966. Preface, Ch. 7 & 9.

Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power: Global Empires and Revolution, 1890-1945, Vol. 3 Cambridge University Press, 2012. Ch. 13.

Read at least one of the following readings:

Mohandas Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with Truth, Dover Publications, 1983. Part 5 Ch. 15-20.

Mao Zedong, “Report on a Peasant Movement in Hunan” in Selected Works of Mao Tse- tung, Vol. 1 (Foreign Languages Press, 1965) pp. 23-39, 44-48.

Week 6 (2/28): Political Crisis & Stability: How have these regimes endured?

Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century, Oxford University Press, 2011. Ch. 1-2.

Ashutosh Varshney. “Why Democracy Survives” Battles Half-Won. Penguin-Viking 2013.

PART II: What difference does democracy & communism make today?

Week 7 (3/7): Politics: How different are these regimes now?

Patrick Heller. “Degrees of Democracy: Some Comparative Lessons from India” World Politics. 52. July 2000, pp. 484-519.

Ayesha Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Conclusion

3 Jessica Teets, "Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The Rise of Consultative Authoritarianism in China. The China Quarterly, 213 (2013): 19-38.

Yuen Yuen Ang, "Authoritarian Restraints on Online Activism Revisited: Why "I-Paid-a-Bribe" Worked in India but Failed in China" Comparative Politics (Oct. 2014): 21-40.

SPRING BREAK

Week 8 (3/21): Ethnic Conflict: Why do ethnic conflicts emerge? Why do they turn violent?

Ashutosh Varshney. "How has Indian Federalism Done?" Studies in Indian Politics (July 2013).

Enze Han, Contestation and Adaptation: The Politics of National Identity in China, Oxford University Press, 2013. Ch. 2

Enze Han and Christopher Paik. "Dynamics of Political Resistance in Tibet: Religious Repression and Controversies of Demographic Change" China Quarterly, 217 (2014): pp 69-98.

Ashutosh Varshney. “Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond.” World Politics. (53) April 2001: pp. 362-398.

Week 9 (3/28): Market Reform: Why have the Chinese reforms produced more growth?

Pranab Bardhan,. Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: Assessing the Economic Rise of China and India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010, Ch. 1-2 & 4.

Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya. Why Growth Matters. 2013. Preface, Intro & Ch 3

Literature Review Due Friday March 31

Week 10 (4/4): Globalization & the BRICS: Why has China globalized more than India? Are they promoting a new form of state capitalism?

Aldo Mussachio and Sergio G. Lazzarini, Reinventing State Capitalism: Leviathan in Business, Brazil and Beyond, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014. Ch. 2

Jim O'Neil, "Build Better Global Economic BRICs" Global Economic Papers No. 66, NY: Goldman Sachs, 2001.

Zaki Laıdi, ‘BRICS: Sovereignty Power and Weakness’, International Politics, 49(5) (September 2012): 614–632.

4 Week 11 (4/11): Education

Akshay Mangla. “Inclusive Growth in India: The State and Education.” HBS 715-049.

Emily Hannum and Jennifer Adams, "Beyond Cost: Rural Perspectives on Barriers to Education" in Davis & Feng, eds. Creating Wealth and Poverty in Post-Socialist China, Stanford University Press, 2009.

Teng & Ma, "Preferential Policies for Ethnic Minorities and Educational Inequality in Higher Education in China" in Affirmative Action in the US and China, Springer 2009.

Thomas Sowell, Affirmative Action around the World, Yale University Press, Ch. 2 India.

Data Analysis Due Friday April 14

Week 12: (4/18) Welfare & Poverty

Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, Hunger and Public Action, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Ch. 11 China and India

Jos Mooij, "Food Policy and Politics: The Political Economy of the Public Distribution System in India" Journal of Peasant Studies 25:2 (1998): 77-101.

Mark Frazier, "China's Welfare Reforms" Daedalus 2013.

Week 13 (4/25): Student Conference

FINAL PAPER DUE: Friday May 5