Papers in this issue include: ‘Politics First’: The Maoist state and the political process during the cultural revolution. Managing central-local relations during socialist marketisation: A changing role for the Chinese Communist party. The politics of accumulation in small-town India. Constraints on civil society’s capacity to curb corruption: Lessons from the Indian experience. Between cant and corporatism: Creating and enabling political environment for the poor. Creating wealth and welfare: Entrepreneurship and the development state in rural China.