Democracy Dialogues Series 43: 'India, China and the New World Order : Is the Onus on India to Change and Adapt?'

Speaker :

Chandran Nair

Author, Thinker and Political Analyst

Founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT)

Date and Time :

Sunday, 3 rd May, 2026, 6 PM (IST)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83945588791?pwd=k23qcCsRbSLwvl0MjtxstVpRYJDBOF.1

Meeting ID: 839 4558 8791

Passcode: 837048

Abstract:

In a conversational and interactive mode, the speaker will broadly be covering the following aspects of the theme:

1. Neighbourhood, Geopolitics, New World Order - The troubled relations between the two Asian giants have, by now, a history of several decades. In India, the constraints of domestic politics (largely flowing from liberal democracy and competitive electoral politics) appear to make it difficult for the Indian rulers to serve India's strategic interests and to formulate an appropriate foreign policy. How should India deal with the strategic challenges arising from the emerging New World Order?

2. Political Economy for India – India is often projected to emerge as the next economic powerhouse of the world, but the facts on ground pose many challenges. The path to export-led growth as traversed by China appears to be closed for India. Furthermore, a strong State that can guide and force private capital to work in national interest is impossible in the liberal democratic and capitalist India. How to visualize a political economy suitable for India?

3. Woes of Liberal Democracy – Competitive electoral politics often activates the social, religious and sectarian fault lines of Indian society. It has, for example, paved the ground for the rise of the Hindutva forces. What can be done about such challenges thrown up by liberal democracy?

4. Civilizational Discourse – China and India are often cited as the two glorious and largest ancient civilizations. China is cited as the civilizational state that has managed to tame modernity for its own ends. How can India accomplish something similar in its own way?

Speaker :

Chandran Nair is the founder and CEO of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, an independent Pan-Asian think tank that explores the dynamic relationship among business, society, and the state, as well as the rules governing global capitalism

Nair was born in Malaysia, he studied chemical engineering in the UK, at 28, he joined the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, later earned a master's degree in environmental engineering from Bangkok.

He has authored / co authored many books, here is a representative list of his publications : Understanding China : Governance, Socio-Economics, Global Influence (2026) ;  Dismantling Global White Privilege : Equity for a Post-Western World (2022) ; The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society (2018) ; Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet  (2011) ;  

He is also the creator of The Other Hundred, a non-profit global photo journalism initiative to present a counterpoint to media consensus on some of today's most important issues.

Chandran was chairman of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Asia Pacific until 2004, establishing the company as Asia’s leading environmental consultancy.

Chandran has served as Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. He is a Member of the Executive Committee of The Club of Rome and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

- New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

India in the World - Mostly Through the Lens of the Iran War _ Ravi Sinha

Abstract :

The unipolar world that came into existence at the end of the Cold War is on the way out and a new world order, potentially a multipolar one, is in the offing. This epochal change, as evidenced in the miraculous rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia on the world stage, appears to have gained acceleration with the war in West Asia in which the Iranian nation has handed an astonishingly courageous response to the aggressors. A broad framework to understand this epochal transition was presented in a study group by Comrade Ravi Sinha.

Part 1:

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZzC-ak1I6Q

Part 2:

                                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbkaQ3zrVck

Part 1 of this video contains the basic presentation followed by further elaboration of the argument in the Q/A session in Part 2.

Date: 05 April 2025

New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

Democracy Dialogues Series 42 _ India Under Modi: Shrinking Democracy, Growing Inequalities _ Professor Atul Kohli

Speaker: Professor Atul Kohli

David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University, USA

Time and Date :

7 PM (IST)

Sunday 25 th January, 2026

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Abstract:

Modi’s rule in India is characterized by shrinking democracy and growing economic inequalities.  The presentation will focus both on the rise of Modi and on Modi’s ruling record.  The following points will be emphasized: growing economic inequalities under Congress governments after 1991 fractured the party's voter base, paving the way for Modi's rise; religious polarization and corporate power have grown simultaneously under Modi; India’s billionaires thrive amid the democratic decline; institutional checks have been eroded and the opposition has been fractured: the judiciary, media, and election bodies have failed to counter executive power; and there is little evidence to suggest a superior economic record in India after 2014: industrial growth has been sluggish, job creation minimal, and welfare spending flat.

About the Speaker:

Professor Atul Kohli is a world-renowned political scientist. He is David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University. His principal research interests are in the area of political economy of developing countries.

He is the author of Democracy and Inequality in India: Political Economy of a Troubled Giant(with Kanta Murali), (2025); Greed and Guns: Imperial Origins of the Developing World, (2022); Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the U.S. Shaped the Global Periphery (2020); Poverty amid Plenty in the New India (2012) (a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2012 on Asia and the Pacific); State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (2004) (winner of the Charles Levine Award (2005) of the International Political Science Association); Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability (1991); and The State and Poverty in India (1987).  

He has also edited or coedited ten volumes (most recently, Business and Politics in India, 2019; and States in the Developing World, 2017) and published some sixty articles. Through much of his scholarship he has emphasized the role of sovereign and effective states in the promotion of inclusive development.

Organised by New Socialist Initiative

Democracy Dialogues - 42 : India Under Modi: Shrinking Democracy, Growing Inequalities

 

Democracy Dialogues Series 42

Organised by New Socialist Initiative

Theme :

India Under Modi: Shrinking Democracy, Growing Inequalities

Speaker: 

Professor Atul Kohli

David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University, USA

Time and Date :

7 PM (IST)

Sunday 25 th January 2026

Join Zoom Meeting :

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84840793414?pwd=Km2sDmvf0XQMY0ISoGKN7emfjzPNLO.1

Meeting ID: 848 4079 3414

Passcode: 168537

The meeting will also be live streamed at Facebook ( facebook.com/newsocialistinitiative.nsi).

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Abstract:

Modi’s rule in India is characterized by shrinking democracy and growing economic inequalities.  The presentation will focus both on the rise of Modi and on Modi’s ruling record.  The following points will be emphasized: growing economic inequalities under Congress governments after 1991 fractured the party's voter base, paving the way for Modi's rise; religious polarization and corporate power have grown simultaneously under Modi; India’s billionaires thrive amid the democratic decline; institutional checks have been eroded and the opposition has been fractured: the judiciary, media, and election bodies have failed to counter executive power; and there is little evidence to suggest a superior economic record in India after 2014: industrial growth has been sluggish, job creation minimal, and welfare spending flat.

About the Speaker: Professor Atul Kohli is a world-reknowned political scientist. He is the David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University. His principal research interests are in the area of political economy of developing countries. He is the author of India Under Modi: Changing State and Society (with Kanta Murali), (2025); Greed and Guns: Imperial Origins of the Developing World, (2022); Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the U.S. Shaped the Global Periphery (2020); Poverty amid Plenty in the New India (2012) (a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2012 on Asia and the Pacific); State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (2004) (winner of the Charles Levine Award (2005) of the International Political Science Association); Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability (1991); and The State and Poverty in India (1987).  He has also edited or coedited ten volumes (most recently, Business and Politics in India, 2019; and States in the Developing World, 2017) and published some sixty articles. Through much of his scholarship he has emphasized the role of sovereign and effective states in the promotion of inclusive development.