Group 2 Domestic Politics : Outline

The concept of regional powers is not new in terms of international politics and development economics, but this research project is without global precedent in that it involves a comparative study of the conditions and strategies by which China, Russia, India and Turkey became regional powers. Specifically, it will compare those four countries using the following yardsticks.

1. What kind of influence does differences in the way the political elites are recruited (i.e., differences in the degree to which competitive elections are held) have on the preferences of the elite and the nature of political systems overall?
2. How are those countries coming to terms with demands for governance and calls for democracy, which often contradict each other?
3. How do those countries control the socio-political cleavages that deepen amid development-oriented growth policies? What mechanisms are there for adjusting their different interests between different classes, regions, ethnicities and religions?
4. Do those countries resist universalism and theories of a unipolar world? How do their experiences of having created vast empires in the past impact on their values and great power discourse today?