This chapter focuses on the role of the Argead dynasts of Macedon and the Qin rulers, who transitioned in title from Gong to Wang to Huang Di. Despite both of these figures being “sole rulers” which initially operate along very similar lines, the resulting final forms of those rulership modes – Philip and Alexander in Macedon, versus the First Emperor in Qin, are evidence of dramatically different dynamics at work on these rulership traditions. This chapter focuses on the differing roles of ruler legitimation, the limitations of power

An East Asian community of states based on shared cultural and institutional models matured in the seventh–tenth centuries. Beginning in the mid seventh century, Japan completely transformed itself according to Chinese-style codes of penal and administrative law. A unified and independent Korea, after 676, maintained a careful balance between native traditions and prestigious Chinese models. In China itself, the great Tang dynasty consolidated a more homogeneously Chinese culture and identity. Even South Asian Buddhism was domesticated. But the tenth century then brought changes of dynasty to both China and Korea, independence for what becomes Vietnam, and gradually emerging new directions in Japan, including weakening of the imperial government, the emergence of samurai warriors, and the flourishing of Japanese language literature.

This chapter compares specific features of the reigns of Philip II , Alexander III, and Ying Zheng. This chapter attempts to understand the lives of these figures not as Great Men history traditionally has, but rather to understand them as culminations of evolutions and processes that were centuries in the making, and representing evolutions which, in many ways, are cut off after their own eras. Major topics examined include the differing approaches taken to mass population transfer by Alexander and Zheng, the differing expressions of dissent under Philip, Alexander, and Ying Zheng, their various attempts to portray themselves as heroic and divine, and the sociopolitical motivations for their activities in the first place. Findings include the nature of Ying Zheng’s efforts at self divinization as itself bureaucratic. Alexander’s equivalent efforts are limited by the nature of Macedonian kingship as first-among-equals, which his campaigns had massively distorted, but never actually broke down, explaining the attitudes and behaviors of Macedonians towards his increasing power and prestige, as well as providing hard political and social incentivization for Alexander’s campaigns other than the notion of “Pothos”.

Tripathi (pseudonym), a senior officer in the Town Planning department, was scathing in his attacks on the DSIRDA, acknowledging errors in the SIR Act and its implementation in Dholera. This admission was significant, as he had chaired many meetings where crucial decisions concerning the planning and implementation of Dholera SIR (or Dholera smart city) were taken. Knowing that I was from a UK-based university, Tripathi proudly spoke about his own son, a graduate in town planning from a reputed UK university. He then called his son, Rutul, who was seated in a room within his office. Tripathi's large office had adjoining cabins, which were spacious enough to act as regular offices. After a brief introduction, we moved to an adjacent cabin where his son was seated. As we conversed about different things, life in Gujarat or the UK, I realised this cabin was effectively his son's de facto office for the planning and architecture consultancy services he offered. According to him, he often attended to his clients here as he was learning the trade from his experienced father. Even though he started his consultancy very recently, he had an envious portfolio of projects.

Unsurprisingly, he did not acknowledge how the location of his own office inside his father's office fetches him business. In a society where patronage, favours and bribes are rampant, clients who visit or seek favour from Rutul's powerful father, would often be obliged to hire the son. As Harriss-White (2003: 89) noted, ‘The shadow state spills into the lanes surrounding state offices and … officials’ residences.’ The shadow elements of the state here physically spill into and are found inside the state offices undertaking private business. These are vivid images of the formal and shadow elements of a state working in tandem with one another.

As we disentangle the various facets of the AES in practice, this chapter gives a picture of state policymaking and the institutional architecture that set the stage for the implementation of the Dholera project. While the previous chapter examined the practices of the actors of the AES in the villages where the SIR project was being implemented, this chapter looks at the level of the provincial capital where the policies of such projects are framed.

On July 3, 2015, four years after the MoRD started data collection for the SEC survey in the state of Tripura, it co-announced the release of provisional data for rural India. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and minister of rural development Chaudhary Birendra Singh—both of the BJP-led government that had come to power in 2014—published a press statement that included a link to SEC survey summary data on the MoRD website. The MoRD had analyzed and made public the data that it required for BPL identification, and envisioned numerous additional possibilities for using the collected data. The press release stated that the MoRD planned “to use the [SEC survey] data in all its programmes,” specifically citing “Housing for all, Education and Skills thrust, MGNREGA [Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act], National Food Security Act, interventions for differently able[d], interventions for women-led households, and targeting of households/ individual entitlements on evidence of deprivation, etc.” It also pointed to other intended uses of the SEC survey data by policy planners across levels of government and stated that combining the SEC survey data with the NPR would allow coordination across programs “to simultaneously address the multi-dimensionality of poverty by addressing the deprivation of households in education, skills, housing, employment, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, social and gender mobilization and entitlement” and tracking the progress of households over time. The concluding paragraph of the press release argued that the “[SEC survey] truly makes evidence based targeted household interventions for poverty reduction possible.” The two summary tables in the press release included details on the percentage of households automatically included on the BPL list based on five possible parameters for automatic inclusion, one of which was “whether any member of the household was from a primitive tribal group” (a question from the household section of the SEC survey questionnaire). This data came from a question that had been field-tested in the 2010 pilot survey—so it was not an addition from when the caste-wise enumeration was combined with the BPL survey. The tables also included the percentage of SC and ST households, which previous BPL surveys had documented.

As developing countries continued to witness urbanisation at a rate never seen before in the history of humankind, the year 2008 delivered a key moment, when the global population in urban areas surpassed that of their rural counterparts for the first time in human history. Such a scale of urbanisation resulting in intensive use of resources is often linked with environmental challenges including climate change that can make human life unsustainable on planet Earth. This has put the need for long-term sustainable development at the heart of any such urbanisation. The case is acutely severe in the Global South as countries such as India, China and Nigeria will be responsible for 35 per cent of the increase in urban population worldwide from 2018 to 2050 (UNPD, 2018). Thus, with such a large majority of the population living in the cities, it is crucial to solve the contradictions of developing these areas in a sustainable manner. This has resulted in a range of initiatives and scholarly discussions around technology's possible role in resolving climate change and sustainability issues.

Proponents argue that urbanisation should be seen less as a challenge and more as an opportunity to deliver economic growth and infrastructural upgrades while also addressing associated environmental concerns. Here, technology, and more specifically information and communications technology (ICT), is often proffered as a panacea to deliver sustainable urban development, addressing the challenges while maximising the opportunities. When ICT is applied at the scale of cities and towns, what we have are smart cities: ‘places where information technology is combined with infrastructure, architecture, everyday objects and our own bodies to address social, economic and environmental problems’ (Townsend, 2013: 15). ICT's growing dominance is evident in the global smart city industry's valuation at USD 549.1 billion in 2023, a total that is expected to reach more than a trillion dollars by 2028 (Statista, 2024).

India, the most populated country as of 2024, has arguably been the epicentre of such rapid urbanisation and infrastructural transformations, including smart cities. In 2015, for example, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched the National Smart Cities Mission, a multibillion-dollar project to upgrade 100 existing Indian cities to smart cities.

This chapter describes the founding of the ancient Zhou Dynasty and its early articulation of Mandate of Heaven theory, which legitimated changes of Chinese dynasties. The loosely centralized Zhou eventually disintegrated into fully independent kingdoms called the Warring States. This became a time of cultural and intellectual ferment that gave birth to the Hundred Schools of classical Chinese thought, including Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism eventually became a defining feature of all East Asia. More immediately, Legalism helped transform the Qin kingdom into the most powerful of the Warring States, conquer all its rivals, and forge the first Chinese imperial dynasty. Qin excesses led to its rapid collapse, but Qin was succeeded by a more enduring Han Dynasty based on similar, though more moderate, imperial institutions. After four centuries of Han imperial unity, it too collapsed into warlordism, followed by the famous Three Kingdoms period.

The Introduction explains what East Asia is and how it is defined here: which is culturally, primarily in terms of shared use of the Chinese writing system, shared institutional models, Confucianism, and common forms of Buddhism. It argues that East Asia has changed greatly over time and is internally diverse, but that there are also important commonalities and continuities. The relatively recent origins of some traditions are also discussed. East Asias global importance and continued relevance are emphasized.

This introduction lays out the uses and methodology of comparative historiography. The larger suitability of Macedon and Qin for particular emphasis in a comparative study is addressed and defended based on their numerous historical features that are found to parallel each other.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, China’s weakness provoked crisis, and new Western-inspired ideas of nationalism were taking root in East Asia. A Nationalist Revolution in 1911–1912 replaced the Qing Empire with a new Republic of China, and rejection of Chinese tradition was promoted by the “New Youth” of the May Fourth Movement. After the first president of the republic died, China dissolved into warlordism. Under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist Party struggled to reunify China. In 1905 the Japanese defeated Russia in war and acquired Russian facilities in Manchuria. Korea became a Japanese colony, which the Japanese attempted to assimilate. But Japanese rule in Korea was harsh and discriminatory, and a spirit of Korean nationalism was brewing. In the Japanese home islands, universal adult male suffrage was implemented in 1925, and Japan had become a multi-party democracy. In French colonial Vietnam, the 1920s brought accelerating French investment, and Western influences, ranging from Hollywood movies to Marxism. But, despite the appeal of the ideals of the French Revolution, many Vietnamese people felt excluded.