Asia's Giants: Comparing China and India [Paperback]

Edward Friedman (Editor), Bruce Gilley (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2008

Ever since China and India began to reform their planned economies in the 1980s, the world has watched as two quite differenct development success stories have unfolded.  One side has been China's rapid economic growth and remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation and diplomatic power.  On the other has been India's less rapid growth but continued success in democratic rule and social pluralism.  Today the two countries , which together account for 40 percent of the global population, are emerging as the new great powers of the twenty-first century.  Contributors to this volume reconsider the conventional wisdom that argues that the comparative performance of China has been superior to that of India, bring together new paradigms for evaluating the two countries in terms of economics, social policy, politics, and diplomacy.  The essays show that if not outright wrong, conventional wisdom has proven to be overly simplified. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...The authors are on solid ground when they conclude that India and China will decisively shape the future of Asia and become major actors in world politics."

--Foreign Affairs

 

"In the West, the conventional India/China comparisons of the 1970's and 1980's were deeply influenced by the misleading self-reports of a Chinese society so closed that fact checking was impossible. The comparisons were influenced by reports of an India so open that all social, political and economic blemishes were accessible. The authors of this volume have reread the old Chinese evidence more critically, countering spurious statistical claims and deducting credit for the low status of civil rights and political freedoms. They have reread the old Indian evidence more positively through the lens of India's recent accelerated growth and IT leadership, and accorded its democratic and human
rights practices more credit. This attempt at revision provides a lively and accessible account, supplied with a rich panoply of relevant data and interpretation."

--Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, William Benton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, Emerita, University of Chicago

"This is a path breaking book on the new global reality of a China and India that are now major factors in international political and business decisions. The book shows the strength of a comparative approach; and for these two giants the degree of their cooperation and competition is one of the central issues of the 21st century."
--Paul Bracken, Yale University

"Friedman and Gilley's book, Asia's Giants, is a timely, unique and valuable collection of chapters providing a variety of perspectives and analyses covering politics, security, business and technology. The contributors include Western specialists of China and India, as well a good balance of Chinese and Indian experts providing some fascinating national insights of the two countries and their power aspirations. Those interested in the growing economic and military power of the two Asian giants and the two most populous countries in the world, will find this an excellent reference work."
--Raju G. C. Thomas, Allis Chalmers Distinguished Professor of International Affairs, Marquette University, Author of Democracy, Security and Development in India

About the Author

Edward Friedman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Bruce Gilley is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Princeton University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230606164
• ISBN-13: 978-0230606166
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,764,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)