The book reviews the development experience of two major
countries in Asia, India and China. India has followed a democratic
liberal course in politics, based on Westminster-style parliamentary
practices. However, its economic policy has tilted towards socialism,
with government control on the major sectors of the economy. China, on
the other hand, has evolved a political culture that is totalitarian in
nature; all political power is concentrated in the hands of the
Communist Party. Hence, economic decision-making was also centralised
until a few years ago when China began a process of economic
liberalisation. The book begins by defining what uneven development
signifies. Development strategies and their outcomes are used to
illustrate the phenomenon of uneven development. The author describes
three such strategies, namely, industrialisation, sectoral/regional
balance, and economic liberalisation. The effect of these strategies on
the growth of output, inequalities in income consumption, and class
inequalities in an intra-regional, inter-regional, and rural-urban
divide are specifically discussed for both India and China. Other topics
of interest that are dealt with in the book include technology policies
and access to health and education services. The latter two subjects, in
particular, are discussed in terms of class, regional background, and
rural-urban bias.
