Regulation in India: Design, Capacity, Performance - (Hart Studies in Comparative Public Law) by Devesh Kapur & Madhav Khosla (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The rise of the regulatory state has been a major feature of modern constitutional democracies. India, the world's largest democracy, is no exception to this trend. This book is the first major study of regulation in India. It considers how the development of regulation in India has altered the nature and functions of the state; how it is reshaping the relationship between business and the state; how it has called for the refashioning of established legal principles; and how it has raised new questions about the relationship between technical expertise and the rule of law. The chapters cover topics ranging from the foundations of the Indian regulatory state to the form of regulation across different sectors to regulation in practice. Together, the chapters reveal the challenges, promise, and limitations offered by contemporary regulatory practices, and they capture the close if sometimes fraught relationship that regulation must inevitably share with the political economy and constitutional schema within which it operates.

Review Quotes

"This volume, the first to examine the regulatory state in India, contributes not only to our understanding of governance in that country, but also the dynamics of regulation more generally. With a series of excellent chapters on key substantive areas, the book explores how the challenges posed by technological change, economic globalization, and limited technical capacity play out in the Indian context. It will surely become a go-to volume in comparative administrative and regulatory studies." --Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, University of Chicago

"This book highlights the various dimensions of a regulatory regime in the context of a democratic polity. By striking a unique balance between the broad principles underpinning an administrative framework and the regulatory aspects of specialized sectors in the economy, this book is a much needed contribution to the existing discourse on the administrative state." --Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Judge, Supreme Court of India

"This first major study of regulation and regulatory institutions in India brings together superb scholarship on a much neglected but increasingly influential pillar of public governance. This magisterial volume offers lessons not just for India but countries around the world and will prove to be the standard reference on this topic." --Arvind Subramanian, Former Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India

About the Author

Devesh Kapur is the Starr Foundation South Asia Studies Professor and Asia Programs Director at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.

Madhav Khosla is a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.