ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the importance of subnational levels of government in the relationship between citizens and governments in India, China, and Japan. It summarizes federal and unitary systems, and the second examines Indian federalism, which has been molded and cross-pressured by the forces of both centralization and decentralization over the past half century. The chapter discusses China's local and regional governments, with particular attention to the decentralization of power that altered Chinese politics in the late twentieth century. Despite critical differences between India and China, these two Asian giants share many of the problems that result when traditional societies undergo rapid change. The chapter also discusses Japan's levels of government. Japan has not experienced the kinds of pressures on local and regional governments that India and China have. Nonetheless, politics outside of Tokyo are far from static, and Japan has moved toward greater decentralization.
