The main goal of the comparative study is to analyse contemporary social security provision and its determinants in India and China. Contrary to the classical assumption of Western liberal theoretical reasoning and empirical inquiries, China seems to be doing much better than India in terms of social security provisions. Thus, it is argued that institutional causality or regime effect is less relevant for the policy performance. Moreover, the study attempts to solve the puzzle of the missing comparative democratic advantage by answering the core research question: Why is the People's Republic of China outperforming the Indian Democratic Republic in providing social security? In pursuing the leading core question the study aims at an empirical and theoretical investigation of political institutions and their relevance for the development of social security provision in both countries.