Matthew McCartney – författare

In 1984, Pranab Bardhan published his classic work The Political Economy of Development in India (PEDI). It went on to become one of the most influential references on the political economy of development in the pre-reform period of independent India. Class and Conflict reflects on the enduring influence of Bardhan's original publication in the context of post-liberalization developments in India. Drawing on their own world-leading research, the contributors to this volume engage with a wide range of issues, such as whether big business dominates India today, how subsidies retard economic growth, and how the middle classes are transforming politics. Together they try to answer the big question: what has really changed in the political and economic climate of the country over the last 30 years? Exploring the continuities and changes that have characterized India's political economy since 1984, this volume takes stock of the main challenges of India's economic development today. It contributes to current debates on economic growth, crony capitalism, agrarian crisis, the politics of class and caste, and the role of the state in a liberalizing economy.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of water resource management in the Omo-Turkana Basin, linking together biophysical, socioeconomic, policy, institutional and governance issues in a solutions-oriented manner.The Omo-Turkana Basin is one of the most important lake basins in Africa, and despite the likely transboundary impacts associated with the management of dams, it is the largest lake basin in Africa without a cooperative water agreement. This volume provides a foundation for integrated decision-making in the management of development in the Lake Turkana Basin. Chapters cover water-related conditions, hydropower, agriculture, ecosystems, resilience and transboundary governance. The final chapter proposes ways forward in light of the potential benefits that can be achieved through cooperation, and practical realities that cooperation is slow and may take time to achieve.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of water and natural resource management, environmental policy, sustainable development and African studies. It will also be relevant to water management professionals.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of water resource management in the Omo-Turkana Basin, linking together biophysical, socioeconomic, policy, institutional and governance issues in a solutions-oriented manner.The Omo-Turkana Basin is one of the most important lake basins in Africa, and despite the likely transboundary impacts associated with the management of dams, it is the largest lake basin in Africa without a cooperative water agreement. This volume provides a foundation for integrated decision-making in the management of development in the Lake Turkana Basin. Chapters cover water-related conditions, hydropower, agriculture, ecosystems, resilience and transboundary governance. The final chapter proposes ways forward in light of the potential benefits that can be achieved through cooperation, and practical realities that cooperation is slow and may take time to achieve.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of water and natural resource management, environmental policy, sustainable development and African studies. It will also be relevant to water management professionals.

Understanding the drivers and inhibitors of economic growth is critical for promoting development in less developed countries, including India. This book examines economic growth in India from 1951 to the present, challenging many accepted orthodox views. It argues that growth and stagnation should be considered over the medium term, and that the precise role of the state – in relation to particular historical and political-economic circumstances – is more important than the overall level of state involvement or disengagement. The book uses an empirical approach to contend that the state has an important role in several key areas including: mobilising a surplus; allocating the surplus in an efficient way to productive investment projects; and in building institutions (including political parties) through which conflict can managed between the different losers and rent-seekers affected by economic changes. It shows how, over time and in periods of growth and stagnation, the state in India has acted in key areas, and how the actions of the state has had a profound impact on economic outcomes. Overall, the book makes a major contribution to understanding the economic history of development in India and to understanding the role of the state in economic development more generally.

The phenomenal growth and liberalisation of the Indian economy has been the subject of extensive scholarly documentation and competing interpretations. This book examines the key period of liberalisation in India from 1991 to 2008. It analyses the relationship between growth and liberalisation and, in particular, the recent ‘miracle growth rate’ and considers its sustainability in the current Indian economic environment. The book explores and re-evaluates the historical experience of planning in India between 1950 and 1980 as an alternative model of state-led economic development, discusses how far current rapid growth is the result of liberalisation, and how strong the case is for continued liberalisation today. The book is a significant contribution to the growing debate on economic growth and liberalisation, and the broader subject of economic development in India and other developing countries. It will appeal to students, researchers, lecturers and all those interested in South Asia in general and, India, in particular. It is also an essential resource for the study of international political economy and development economics.

This book provides a comprehensive reassessment of the development of the economy of Pakistan since independence to the present. It employs a rigorous statistical methodology, which has applicability to other developing economies, to define and measure episodes of growth and stagnation, and to examine how the state has contributed to each. Contesting the orthodox view that liberalisation has been an important driver of growth in Pakistan, the book places the state at the centre of economic development, rather than the market. It examines the state in relation to its economic roles in mobilising resources and promoting a productive allocation of those resources, and its political roles in managing the conflict inherent in economic development. The big conclusions for economic growth in Pakistan are that liberalisation, the market and the external world economy in fact have less influence than that of the state and conflict. Overall, the book offers analyses of the different successive approaches to promoting economic growth and development in Pakistan, relates these to medium-term economic outcomes - periods of growth and stagnation - and thereby explains how the mechanisms by which the state can better promote growth and development.

Understanding the drivers and inhibitors of economic growth is critical for promoting development in less developed countries, including India. This book examines economic growth in India from 1951 to the present, challenging many accepted orthodox views. It argues that growth and stagnation should be considered over the medium term, and that the precise role of the state – in relation to particular historical and political-economic circumstances – is more important than the overall level of state involvement or disengagement. The book uses an empirical approach to contend that the state has an important role in several key areas including: mobilising a surplus; allocating the surplus in an efficient way to productive investment projects; and in building institutions (including political parties) through which conflict can managed between the different losers and rent-seekers affected by economic changes. It shows how, over time and in periods of growth and stagnation, the state in India has acted in key areas, and how the actions of the state has had a profound impact on economic outcomes. Overall, the book makes a major contribution to understanding the economic history of development in India and to understanding the role of the state in economic development more generally.

This book provides a comprehensive reassessment of the development of the economy of Pakistan since independence to the present. It employs a rigorous statistical methodology, which has applicability to other developing economies, to define and measure episodes of growth and stagnation, and to examine how the state has contributed to each. Contesting the orthodox view that liberalisation has been an important driver of growth in Pakistan, the book places the state at the centre of economic development, rather than the market. It examines the state in relation to its economic roles in mobilising resources and promoting a productive allocation of those resources, and its political roles in managing the conflict inherent in economic development. The big conclusions for economic growth in Pakistan are that liberalisation, the market and the external world economy in fact have less influence than that of the state and conflict. Overall, the book offers analyses of the different successive approaches to promoting economic growth and development in Pakistan, relates these to medium-term economic outcomes - periods of growth and stagnation - and thereby explains how the mechanisms by which the state can better promote growth and development.

This volume makes a major intervention in the debates around the nature of the political economy of Pakistan, focusing on its contemporary social dynamics. This is the first comprehensive academic analysis of Pakistan's political economy after thirty-five years, and addresses issues of state, class and society, examining gender, the middle classes, the media, the bazaar economy, urban spaces and the new elite. The book goes beyond the contemporary obsession with terrorism and extremism, political Islam, and simple 'civilian-military relations', and looks at modern-day Pakistan through the lens of varied academic disciplines. It not only brings together new work by some emerging scholars but also formulates a new political economy for the country, reflecting the contemporary reality and diversification in the social sciences in Pakistan. The chapters dynamically and dialectically capture emergent processes and trends in framing Pakistan's political economy and invite scholars to engage with and move beyond these concerns and issues.

China has promised to invest more than $60billion in Pakistan, in roads, rail, energy and a deep-water port at Gwadar. This is unprecedented relative to decades of minimal foreign direct investment (FDI) entering Pakistan. This is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Support for CPEC in Pakistan is widespread and encompasses much of academia, the military, the mainstream political leadership, and civil society. Supporters argue that CPEC offers the potential to transform Pakistan and support rapid, equitable and sustainable economic growth. Detractors of CPEC argue that it will more likely tip Pakistan into a dependent debt-relationship with China and that it will facilitate more Chinese imports into Pakistan posing a threat to Pakistan's industrial base. This book utilises an in-depth understanding of economic change in contemporary China and Pakistan, and economic theory and studies of big infrastructure projects from the contemporary and historical world to evaluate these contrasting views about CPEC.

Widening economic inequalities across the globe today can be understood as the historical consequences of different drivers of growth. This important new text examines the proximate factors of labour, capital and productivity across a range of countries, as well as deeper explanations, from geographical and cultural factors, to colonialism, institutions and the openness of markets and borders. It considers these variables, their effects on rates of growth, and how differing rates of growth will enhance or constrain a country's development.The author makes the case that long-standing inequalities between countries should be the primary focus for academic study, and that development plans should be produced on a case-by-case basis, reflecting the individual circumstances of countries and regions. Using a wide range of historical and contemporary examples, he highlights the blind spots and assumptions that are liable to compromise the priorities and actions of policy-makers, and provides a route towards effective economic reform and sustained development.

Widening economic inequalities across the globe today can be understood as the historical consequences of different drivers of growth. This important new text examines the proximate factors of labour, capital and productivity across a range of countries, as well as deeper explanations, from geographical and cultural factors, to colonialism, institutions and the openness of markets and borders. It considers these variables, their effects on rates of growth, and how differing rates of growth will enhance or constrain a country's development.The author makes the case that long-standing inequalities between countries should be the primary focus for academic study, and that development plans should be produced on a case-by-case basis, reflecting the individual circumstances of countries and regions. Using a wide range of historical and contemporary examples, he highlights the blind spots and assumptions that are liable to compromise the priorities and actions of policy-makers, and provides a route towards effective economic reform and sustained development.

The phenomenal growth and liberalisation of the Indian economy has been the subject of extensive scholarly documentation and competing interpretations. This book examines the key period of liberalisation in India from 1991 to 2008. It analyses the relationship between growth and liberalisation and, in particular, the recent ‘miracle growth rate’ and considers its sustainability in the current Indian economic environment. The book explores and re-evaluates the historical experience of planning in India between 1950 and 1980 as an alternative model of state-led economic development, discusses how far current rapid growth is the result of liberalisation, and how strong the case is for continued liberalisation today. The book is a significant contribution to the growing debate on economic growth and liberalisation, and the broader subject of economic development in India and other developing countries. It will appeal to students, researchers, lecturers and all those interested in South Asia in general and, India, in particular. It is also an essential resource for the study of international political economy and development economics.

The Indian economy has undergone dramatic changes over recent decades encompassing episodes of rapid growth and stagnation. It is a complex economic story that stretches back to the seismic events of 1947. This book charts the development of the Indian economy since independence and partition, and provides a rigorous presentation of India’s contemporary political economy.As well as providing a comprehensive survey of the main features of the Indian economy, the book critically examines key debates surrounding the country’s economic trajectory, in particular those that link it to the dominance of particular class interests, and those that argue that India’s economic growth has not delivered equivalent welfare gains. Throughout, the book uses revealing case studies of poverty and inequality, of education, health, work and gender issues to outline the human story behind the economic figures and performance indicators. The economic impact of internal geography, regional diversity and discrimination is also assessed. The distinct, and sometimes puzzling, features of India’s political economy are explored, including the significance of the service sector, a weakening state, and the democratic failure of public service delivery.The book offers an authoritative overview of the contemporary Indian economy suitable for students seeking an introduction to this most diverse of economies.

The Indian economy has undergone dramatic changes over recent decades encompassing episodes of rapid growth and stagnation. It is a complex economic story that stretches back to the seismic events of 1947. This book charts the development of the Indian economy since independence and partition, and provides a rigorous presentation of India’s contemporary political economy.As well as providing a comprehensive survey of the main features of the Indian economy, the book critically examines key debates surrounding the country’s economic trajectory, in particular those that link it to the dominance of particular class interests, and those that argue that India’s economic growth has not delivered equivalent welfare gains. Throughout, the book uses revealing case studies of poverty and inequality, of education, health, work and gender issues to outline the human story behind the economic figures and performance indicators. The economic impact of internal geography, regional diversity and discrimination is also assessed. The distinct, and sometimes puzzling, features of India’s political economy are explored, including the significance of the service sector, a weakening state, and the democratic failure of public service delivery.The book offers an authoritative overview of the contemporary Indian economy suitable for students seeking an introduction to this most diverse of economies.

In this book the authors argue for a paradigm shift in the way African wetlands are considered. Current policies and wetland management are too frequently underpinned by a perspective that views agriculture simply as a threat and disregards its important contribution to livelihoods. In rural areas where people are entrenched in poverty, wetlands (in particular wetland agriculture) have a critical role to play in supporting and developing peoples' livelihoods. Furthermore, as populations rise and climate change takes grip they will be increasingly important. The authors argue that an approach to wetland management that is much more people focused is required. That is an approach that instead of being concerned primarily with environmental outcomes is centred on livelihood outcomes supported by the sustainable use of natural wetland resources. The authors stress the need for Integrated Water Resource Management and landscape approaches to ensure sustainable use of wetlands throughout a river catchment and the need for wetland management interventions to engage with a wide range of stakeholders. They also assess the feasibility of creating incentives and value in wetlands to support sustainable use. Drawing on nine empirical case studies, this book highlights the different ways in which sustainable use of wetlands has been sought, each case focusing on specific issues about wetlands, agriculture and livelihoods.