I think the direct inspiration for the Masquerade policies is closer than you might think. In its origins the author draws from the French Revolution that swept aside a decadent and cruel nobility, was quickly at war with all of Europe, and sought to rationalize society (that's where we get things like the metric system). The bureaucratic exam system is drawn from imperial China. But the Masquerade's actions are drawn more from British imperialism. The US, Britain, Australia, Canada had very influential eugenics movements that included migration controls, forced sterilization of convicts and under slavery forced breeding. They used boarding schools to "civilize" indigenous populations that included horrendous abuse and the calculated destruction of local culture.

This is part of the underlying tension of both real history and the book. On the one hand there's technological progress, the universalizing impact of imperialism. All of a sudden, disparate people are united with a common language, their horizons are expanded to all corners of the globe, but it's brought about through the brutal destruction of everything they once cherished, against their wishes, and done for someone else's profit.

Baru Cormorant isn't so much about a possible dystopia but the actual foundations of the modern world. Putting it in a fantasy setting just let's us explore the ideas with less of the raw pain history can carry.