India: Emerging Power

From Library Journal
India's current foreign policy has evolved from its conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir, the humiliation of having China occupy its northern borderlands in 1962, and the further embarrassment of the intrusion of the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal in 1971. A senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of several books on India, Cohen is highly qualified to treat these three issues within a framework of the perceived greatness of India's civilization, its desire for regional dominance, its position as a valued if weak democracy, and an administrative decision-making structure for foreign and nuclear policy badly in need of revision. He points, however, to several indicators that portend stability in the future. First, India's multiethnic and multicultural society appears well suited for today's diverse world. Second, the eschewing of Nehru's Fabian Socialist economic concepts for those of a market economy has brought significant economic growth to India. Finally, the presence of more than a million highly savvy Indians residing in the United States offers greater ties and influence between the two nations. This book is well researched, thoughtfully presented, and potentially of great profit to readers at all levels. For all libraries. John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, former U.S. Ambassador to India
A must for all who want to understand India's emerging place in the region and the world.


Book Description
For years, Americans have seen India as a giant but inept state. That negative image is now obsolete. After a decade of drift and uncertainty, India is taking its expected place as one of the three major states of Asia. Its pluralist, secular democracy has allowed the rise of hitherto deprived castes and ethnic communities. Economic liberalization is gathering steam, with six percent annual growth and annual exports in excess of $30 billion. India also has a modest capacity to project military power. The country will soon have a two-carrier navy and it is developing a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching all of Asia. This landmark book provides the first comprehensive assessment of India as a political and strategic power since India's nuclear tests, its 1999 war with Pakistan, and its breakthrough economic achievements. Stephen P. Cohen examines the domestic and international causes of India's "emergence," he discusses the way social structure and tradition shape Delhi's perceptions of the world, and he explores India's relations with neighboring Pakistan and China, as well as the United States. Cohen argues that American policy needs to be adjusted to cope with a rising India-and that a relationship well short of alliance, but far more intimate than in the past, is appropriate for both countries.


About the Author
Stephen Philip Cohen, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, is the author of several books on South Asia. He is also a former member of the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State.


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