China and India are the world’s two most populous countries sharing lengthy land borders. Both countries achieved fast economic growth in recent decades and reserve no efforts to push forward further reforms and innovations. To achieve the nation’s development and modernization, China and India chose very different paths. While India adopted the western democratic system, China continued to reform its soclist system with Chinese characteristics. Despite that, the two countries have been working together under banners like the BRICS.

As both countries have been actively exploring the ways to improve domestic governance and development by combining western practices and local conditions, and have been curious about the potential of mutual learning, the Fudan University Dr. Seaker Chan Center for Comparative Political Development Studies proposes to organize a workshop of scholars of both sides to discuss issues of common interests on Jun 3-4 2017 at Fudan University. These issues may include but are not limited to the following: Political party and its leadership over state governance, intergovernmental relation and local governance, local government innovations, civil service and its modernization, development management and social harmonization, deliberative democracy and civic participation, decision making and government accountabilities, as well as Sino-India relations. The workshop intends to identify the commonalities and differences of the major challenges faced by the two countries and their institutional causes, builds up mutual knowledge and consensus on further comparative studies, establishes a scholarly network of dialogue and exchange, and creates new opportunities of research, publications, policy diffusion, and collaboration.

The Fudan University Dr. Seaker Chan Center for Comparative Political Development Studies, the Fudan University School of Internatioal Relations and Public Affairs, and the Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies at Fudan cosponsor the workshop. We invite Chinese and Indian scholars from around the world to present their research along the aforementioned themes.

The host will cover the round-trip tickets as well as hotel and meals during the workshop. Size of the workshop will be small to faciliate in-depth discussions and communication.