China’s Kashmir Policies
by John W. Garver

China has at least six distinct policies toward Kashmir. There is China’s formal, declaratory position on the issue. There are Chinese demonstrations of support for Pakistan’s security during periods of India–Pakistan confrontation over Kashmir. There is Chinese support for Pakistan’s military and industrial development efforts regardless of India–Pakistan tension over Kashmir. There is Beijing’s stance regarding the modalities for solving the Kashmir issue. Finally, Beijing uses Kashmir as diplomatic leverage with Washington and New Delhi.

The Changing Political Economy of Federalism in India: A Historical Institutionalist Approach
by Aseema Sinha

India’s economic reform program started in 1991, unleashing a process of decentralization and competitive race among its regional states. Yet the post-reform era in India is marked by both change and continuity in terms of center–state economic relations. Attention to the path and process of reform must attend to the reform legacies of the ancien regime and how they are transformed over time. I show that the prereform era was characterized not by an absence of competition, but by a different type of competition among states. A historical institutional framework shows that policy change in India transforms the existing balance of power, but does so shaped by the preexisting institutional context and preexisting linkages, resources, and skills. This approach, allows us to integrate an analysis of pre-1991 policy regime into evaluations of the post-1991 changes in a more cohesive, realistic, and yet nuanced manner.

A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of India as an Emerging Power
by Dinshaw Mistry

This article assesses whether India is a great power in the world system, taking into consideration its nuclear status, its pursuit of a second generation of economic reforms, and its improving ties with the United States since the late 1990s. The article reviews three recent books on the topic, authored or edited by Stephen Cohen (2001), Sumit Ganguly (2003), and T. V. Paul and Baldev Raj Nayar (2003). These studies assess Indian power through its substantial military and economic capabilities, and also examine India’s relations with its regional neighbors and with the world’s major countries as a means to attaining power. The article further assesses national power as a state’s ability to control international political outcomes and notes India’s limitations on this dimension of power.