This book argues that the success or failure of India as a developmental state cannot be attributed to policies of the central government alone. They are the combined products of central–local interactions and political choices made by the regional elites. Regional elites insert their agendas into the central framework—modifying and circumventing policy. The author re-evaluates national developmental trajectories differently and stresses the need to evolve a disaggregated, multilevel framework to understand economic policy, development, and globalization. Through in-depth analyses of Gujarat, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, the author presents two main arguments: sub-national developmental states can co-exist with the overarching national state and, these sub-national states are the products of struggle with a dominant centre, and shaped by regional political competition. Globalization makes these interventions even more crucial as local actors modify and reorder global priorities for regional ends. The author tests her thesis by studying four other large nation-states—China, Brazil, the former Soviet Union and democratic Russia. She demonstrates that in each of these countries, regional elites interact with central rulers and significantly influence national policy.
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