Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 137

Indian Politics & Policy
accounts such as Joshi’s, there is little
discussion of the negative consequences
of a close business–state relationship
in terms of cronyism or corruption.
This leads to broader questions on the
state–business relationship in India.
What factors determine whether a close
relationship between state and business
in India is likely to be developmental or
descend into cronyism?
Conclusion: Internal and
External Drivers of Reform
The three books reviewed offer
different views on India’s prospects
for the future. They each
also offer a different analysis of the
drivers of India’s geopolitical rise and
economic growth, and the analyses
complement each other. Thus, Ayres
trumpets India’s global rise and judges
that its domestic economic foundations
will keep reforming sufficiently to meet
its growing needs. Joshi, meanwhile,
argues that “high-quality”—more rapid
and inclusive—economic growth
will demand radical reforms, especially
in the state–market relationship. And
Sinha adds that, in fact, international
institutional changes have prompted
the Indian state to lead extensive and
rapid reforms, at least in some sectors.
As these three volumes show, India’s
economic and geopolitical rise depend
on a very complex interplay of domestic
and international factors, and of the
state and market—no single solution or
pathway of reform will sustain India’s
burgeoning requirements.
References
Drèze, Jean, and Amartya Sen. 2013. An
Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Jenkins, Rob. 1999. Democratic Politics
and Economic Reform in India. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Kohli, Atul. 2012. Poverty Amid Plenty
in the New India. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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