“Globalization and Public Sector Reforms in India and China”

The objective of the conference is to firmly grasp the central issues surrounding public sector reform in India and China. The conference calls for empirical papers that are theoretically grounded and directly address the significance of public sector reforms in China and India in the wider political, economic, and social contexts. We are also open to well-positioned industry, sectoral, technological, and national-comparative analysis of public sector reforms.

Friday, September 23, 2011 - 09:00 to Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 18:00

“Globalization and Public Sector Reforms in India and China”

Copenhagen, September 23-24, 2011.

Organized by Professor Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard and Professor Anthony P. D’Costa

 

Asia Research Centre

Copenhagen Business School

 

Not a single day goes by in the business press without mentioning China and India.  Both countries are trying to shed whatever form of “socialism” they might have claimed to have fostered.  But their public sectors, despite some restructuring, continue to exist.  The public sector has an important economic, social, and political place.  A weak capitalist class, the political need to control critical sectors, the significance of spillover effects, state investments complementing private initiatives, and generating well-paid, secure jobs are well known justifications for a public sector.  However, public sectors everywhere have been beset with inefficiency, unprofitability, and lack of competitiveness thus draining the public exchequer of increasingly scarcer budgets.  Hence, an economic, political, and ideological frontal onslaught has been unleashed to reform the public sector to make it efficient and market-conforming. 

 Whatever be the merits of public sector reform the real challenge for both China and India is how they can cope with the twin demands of market-friendly policies and job creation for the masses.  Although there are by now a number of comparative studies of recent developments in China and India, a study of public sector reform in the two countries have never been done in a systematic way. Given the complex tasks and functions arising out of the ongoing modernization process, one might somewhat unconventionally argue that China and India perhaps need more government and government officials rather than retrenchment of the public sector.

 Following the December 2009 conference on Globalization and Economic Nationalism in Asia this conference revisits the role of the state but in a different way.  The objective is to firmly grasp the central issues surrounding public sector reform in China and India.  This conference calls for papers that directly address the significance of public sector reforms in China and India in the wider political, economic, and social contexts.  We are interested in empirically-driven papers that are also theoretically grounded.  Both national and comparative perspectives for analyzing public sector reforms in China and India are welcome.  We are also open to well-positioned industry, sectoral, technological, and national-regional analysis of public sector reforms.  Given the nature of the theme, interdisciplinary, political-economic, sociological, and historically-sensitive analysis will be seen as the most appropriate.  The following broad interrelated themes are indicative of the issues the conference hopes to capture:

 

  1. Economic development and public sector reform.

  2. Status of public sector reform in China and India.

  3. Public sector reform and employment.

  4. Public sector reform and the political system.

  5. Public sector reform, business development, and public-private partnerships.

  6. The civil service system

  7. Looking to the future.

 

 The conference will take place at the Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, September 23-24, 2011.

Keynote speakers and invited presenters include:

Professor Pranab Bardhan, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Professor John Burns, Head of Department of Government and Political Science, Hong Kong University

Professor Manoranjan Mohanty, Department of Political Science University of Delhi

Professor Peter Nolan, Judge Business School, Cambridge University

Professor Jean Oi, Department of Political Science, Stanford University

Professor Andrew Walder, Head of Department of Sociology, Stanford University

Professor Zheng Yongnian, Director of East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore

Contact Information

 All Practical Matters Contact: arc@cbs.dk (ARC email address) or check the relevant topic in the left-side menu (DO NOT SEND PROPOSALS OR PAPERS TO THIS ADDRESS) Academic Matters Contact:

 

  • China related: Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard (Professor of Chinese Studies and Director, keb.int@cbs.dk)

  • India related: Anthony P. D'Costa (Professor of Indian Studies and Research Director, ad.int@cbs.dk)

 

The page was last edited by: Communications // 09/26/2023