Category: Comparative Politics

• Xi for Life: Implications for India and South Asia

  What does the removal of term limits for the Xi Jinping presidency in China mean for the developing world and, in particular, for South Asia? Inspiration One possible effect could be a demonstration effect. China’s decades-long rapid economic growth has long been a source of envy and inspiration for many countries in the developing world.…

• Wang Huning: Xi Jinping’s Ideological Alter Ego

  In practical terms, Wang Huning is to Xi Jinping what Amit Shah is to Narendra Modi. That comparison should help situate for Indian audiences Wang Huning’s importance in the Chinese political firmament somewhat. If Shah’s job is to help Modi do the electoral math and draw up strategies to win elections, it is Wang’s job…

• Term Limits Off for Xi: Some Reflections for India

  When China’s National People’s Congress – the rough equivalent of India’s Lok Sabha, but toothless – meets in the coming week it has to deal with a proposal by the ruling Communist Party of China to amend the state constitution to remove term limits for the President of the state. Coming from where it does,…

• The ‘Emperor’ Has Feet of Clay

  The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has suggested removing term limits for the President and Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China. The immediate implication is that President Xi Jinping could conceivably continue for a third term or more in office. However, the more important one is that this sets a precedent…

• Book Review: India-Southeast Asia-China Triangular Dynamics

  Originally published as Jabin T. Jacob, ‘Insights on a Triangular Relationship’, The Book Review, Vol. XLI, No. 12, December 2017, 12-13. Amitav Acharya. East of India, South of China: Indian Encounters in Southeast Asia (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017). Karen Stoll Farrell and Sumit Ganguly (eds) Heading East: Security, Trade, and Environment between India…

• What does India think of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative?

  Jabin T. Jacob, ‘What does India think of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative?’, ICS Occasional Paper, No. 19, December 2017.   Abstract China’s Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious regional and global project that it has attempted to sell as a global public good. One country where the Chinese project has met clear, consistent and…

• The Many Ironies of India-China Economic Relations

  Pickpockets are not uncommon in crowded places in India. Victims are generally realists and tend to resign themselves to their misfortune quickly often not even bothering to go to the police. Not so, however, actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari, head of the Delhi unit of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. When he lost his iPhone…

• A Strongman in China: Implications for Asian Regional Politics

  Xi Jinping’s China is not inclined to sharing leadership or space with anyone else.

• China’s 19th CPC Congress: Redefining Economic Growth

  What is evident from Xi’s report is that problems of environment, health and urbanization – problems in India, too – are also seen as opportunities for China.