Stanford University

International Relations 115

Development Issues in South Asia

Spring 2009 Dr. Rafiq Dossani

300-303 E309 Encina Hall

Tue-Thu 11 a.m. – 1230 p.m. dossani@stanford.edu

1.4 billion people live in South Asia. Up to independence from British colonial rule in 1947 (India and Pakistan) and 1948 (Sri Lanka), South Asia’s governance and socio-economic conditions were similar, the latter being characterized by large rural populations, and low levels of literacy, life expectancy and income. For the next forty years, political destinies varied while socio-economic conditions were similar. Since the mid-1990s, variations in development have been marked.

Our objective is to study trends in socio-economic conditions from independence up to the present time in South Asia. The sequence of discussions will be as follows. We will first consider the roles that political governance (eg., democracy), national identity and socio-economic institutions (eg., property rights) play in a country’s development; how they become established and influence outcomes such as rural welfare and the market economy (Section 1). We will next apply these learnings to South Asia (Section 2). Third, we will look at exemplary cases from South Asia – the Kerala development experience, India’s IT industry, Bangladesh’s microfinance initiative and Sri Lanka’s experience with education – and relate them to politics, national identity and socio-economic institutions (Section 3).

Requirements: The instructor will assign the class presentation from the topics in Sections 2 and 3 of the syllabus. The topic of the final paper will be chosen by the student. A one-page proposal, outlining the ideas for the final paper and the sources already consulted, will be due in class on April 30. It will be returned with the comments of the instructor on May 7. The final paper will be due June 5.

Class participation: 15%

Class presentation: 35%

Final paper: 50%

There is a text and a course reader. The text is:

Dossani, R., India Arriving, AMACOM Books, 2007.

The course reader may be purchased from Copy America, 344 California Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Tel: 650-566-0344

March 31

Introduction to IR 115; explanation of course and grading; discussion of why political governance, identity and economic institutions are important; how to read the papers in the course material.

No prior reading is necessary.

Section 1

April 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23

Politics, Identity and Socio-Economic Institutions

A theoretical framework laying out the challenges of development is provided. The challenges are to build the right political and socio-economic institutions within the context of an evolving national identity. It will become apparent that there is no single right approach but there are common themes, such as the spread of basic health and education, and respect for property rights. We will seek to understand why some states have the collective will to promote development and others do not; and, conversely, what is meant by a failed state. We will discuss whether a minimum list of institutions is needed for development and, if so, what those are.

This section will be lecture-driven.

1. Ray, D, Development Economics, Chapter 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998

2. Kohli, A., Democracy and Development: Trends and Prospects, in A. Kohli, C. Moon and G. Sorensen, ed., States, Markets and Just Growth: Development in the Twenty-first Century, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, p. 39-63, 2003.

3. Przeworski, A. and Limongi, F., Political Regimes and Economic Growth, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7(3), pp. 51-69, 1993.

4. Smith, A., Theories of Nationalism, in M. Leifer, Asian Nationalism, p.1-20, London: Routledge, 2000

Section 2

April 28, 30, May 5, 7, 12, 14, 19

The South Asian Development Record

We will consider how the challenges above were tackled in South Asia’s case. We will also observe how the initial conditions of history influence development. For example, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, chose socialism over capitalism as a reaction to the private-sector’s close relationship with colonial rulers prior to independence. In Pakistan’s case, the leaders of its independence struggle found themselves, because of partition, as an ethnic minority in independent Pakistan. Their leadership was challenged by feudal interests in Pakistan’s two largest provinces, Punjab and Sind. This opened the door for the capture of government initially by feudal elites and, later, by the army.

Although we focus on India and Pakistan in this section due to time constraints, we will apply the lessons learned more broadly to South Asia. We hope to end this section with a response to some key questions raised in the first part of the course: Which political and socio-economic institutions found firm footing? How did these affect the development process? What role did national identity play?

This and the following section will be driven by group presentations. Each of the topics below will be assigned to an individual or a small group of students to present in class and lead a class discussion.

Readings:

1. Topic: Democracy and federalism

a. Reading: Dossani, R. India Arriving, Preface and Ch. 1-4

2. Topic: Discontents among India’s underprivileged – rural India

a. Reading: Chakravarti, S. Red Sun, Book 1 (p. 1-82) and Dossani, R., India Arriving, Ch. 13

3. Topic: Discontents among India’s underprivileged – minorities

a. Reading: Dossani, R., India Arriving, Ch.10

4. Topic: Corruption in India

a. Reading: Dossani, R. India Arriving, Ch. 5

5. Topic: Preparing India’s middle-classes for development

a. Readings: Nilekani, N. Imagining India, Institutions of Sand (p332-356) and Dossani, R., India Arriving, Ch. 6, 14, 15.

6. Topic: Pakistan’s Development Experience

a. Readings: Noman, O., Impressive Growth with Low Human Development: the Paradox of Pakistan’s Development, in O. Noman, Economic and Social Progress in Asia: why Pakistan did not become a Tiger, 1997, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.167-194

7. Topic: Pakistani nationalism

a. Hussain, A., Peregrinations of Pakistani Nationalism, in M. Leifer, Asian Nationalism, p.126-152

Section 3

May 21, 26, 28, June 2

Case Studies of South Asian Development

South Asia has some developmental landmarks that are uniquely South Asian. In these lectures, we will use case studies to understand how this happened.

1. Topic: India’s IT Industry

a. Reading: Dossani, R., India Arriving, Ch. 7-9

2. Topic: The Kerala Development Experience

a. Reading: Ramachandran, V., On Kerala’s Development Achievements, in J. Dreze and A. Sen (eds.), Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p 205-356, 1998.

3. Topic: Microfinance in Bangladesh

a. World Bank readings on microfinance: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTCDD/0,,contentMDK:20281035~menuPK:559252~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430161,00.html , including Typology of microfinance service providers, downloadable from the link.

b. Khandker, S., Microfinance and poverty: evidence using panel data from Bangladesh

4. Arunatilake, N., Education participation in Sri Lanka – why all are not in school, 2006, International Journal for Educational Research 45, 137-152