American voice with Chinese accent

Swaran Singh

How panic and populism underwrite the crude binaries of U.S. assessments on the rise of China and India

Unprecedented growth rates of 10.1 and 6.2 per cent by 2.5 billion strong China and India for last thirty years make their ‘rise’ staple food for academic analyses and media commentaries around the world. Like in most things, the lead again is provided by the sole surviving superpower — the United States — except that mostly panic and populism seem to guide its assessments and initiatives which do not augur well for the long-term.

The book under review underlines three fundamental flaws in U.S. assessments. First, they assume continued growth on current trajectories of both China and India. Second, the bulk of research examines them either as country-studies-in-isolation or as perfectly amalgamated ‘Chindia’ with no cracks sapping their rising power and influence. And finally, most studies remain premised exclusively on ‘regime-type’ binaries rather than on empirical analysis of their actual track record. This is the vacuum that the book seeks to address and it does present a rather thought provoking perspective that is bound to ignite further debates.

CHINESE AND INDIAN STRATEGIC BEHAVIOR — Growing Power and Alarm: George J. Gilboy, Eric Heginbotham; Cambridge University Press, 4381/4, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 995

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