India: Emerging Power [Paperback]

Stephen Philip Cohen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0815715013 | ISBN-13: 978-0815715016 | Publication Date: October 1, 2002

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 Indias nuclear tests, its 1999 war with Pakistan, and its breakthrough economic achievements. Stephen P. Cohen examines the domestic and international causes of Indias emergence, he discusses the way social structure and tradition shape Delhis perceptions of the world, and he explores Indias 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 Indiaand that a relationship well short of alliance, but far more intimate than in the past, is appropriate for both countries.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815715013
• ISBN-13: 978-0815715016
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars India's Quest for Great Power Status, June 24, 2005

By 

Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: India: Emerging Power (Paperback)

Stephen P Cohen is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is their resident expert on South Asian strategic studies. Not only has he lived in Dehli for a number of years, he speaks Hindi and he has some unique insights as to how foreign policy is shaped inside the government based on his contacts with some of the key individuals. I have heard Cohen speak (English) on several occaisions and was impressed with the breadth and depth of his knowledge of South Asia.

In this book, Cohen details some of the world views of India's leadership during the 1990s. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power and along with it came a new outlook on India's role in the world. The old school were the Nehruvians of the Congress Party (left-centrist), whose outlook was mainly anticolonial, socialist central planning and advocacy of third-world solidarity against Cold War blocs. The new "center-right realist" school, represented by Jaswant Singh and KC Pant realized the world had changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. The new world order was shaped by economics, and from economic strength comes military power. The new government knew that it had to open its economy to international competition in order to achieve the growth rates needed to lift their population out of poverty. No small task since about half of the world's poor are in India. They found China's example encouraging.

The BJP opened up their foreign policy establishment to input by outsiders such as journalists, academics, and even military personnel. The old Congress Party was always very secretive about their decision making process for fear of a military coup. It was also amazing that the BJP was tolerant of alternative views since some of its coalition partners were so intolerant - think of Shiv Sena, led by the notorious Bal Thackeray. Today the BJP is no longer in power, the Congress Party is back in power, but it is no longer the same Congress Party - it too now is a believer in benefits of open markets.

The liberalization of the economy naturally brought India and the US closer together. America's support of Pakistan has always been a sore point in the relationship, but India now reluctantly accepts the fact that a stable Pakistan is in everyone's best interest, given the nuclear saber rattling that took place in 1998.

The US is by far India's largest trading partner, and the impact that the two countries (the world's two largest democracies) have had on each other is profound. Many of the high-tech startups in Silicon Valley have been created by Indian engineers and funded by Indian money. The Indian-American community of 2 million is the single most affluent ethnic group in the US. Many go back to India with their American experiences and recreate the successes. There are now more IT scientists and engineers in Bangalore than in Silicon Valley.

Geostrategically, India will remain bogged down as a regional power as long as the problem of Kashmir festers, and by extension the problem of Pakistan. According to Cohen, India must put this problem behind it before it can become a great power. It is important for America to be evenhanded in its relations with both countries: for Pakistan is a frontline state in containing Islamic fundamentalism and India is a counterbalance China's growing military power. It is also important that India sets the example of democratic success to counter China's authoritarianism.

Cohen has written an excellent book that will be instructive not only to policymakers but to other readers as well. One Indian reviewer has called the book refractive, as seen through the prism of American eyes; it is to our distinction that the eyes were so learned and perceptive.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It is emerging, but how far will it go?, January 12, 2005

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: India: Emerging Power (Hardcover)

In the late 1980's the news media were full of stories about how there was a fundamental shift of economic and political power from North America and Europe to the western rim of the Pacific Ocean. Japan appeared to most to be an economic juggernaut and the Chinese economy was rapidly expanding. The Asian tigers of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia also appeared to be smaller, yet very powerful economic entities. India was only rarely mentioned, and then largely as an afterthought. I remember India being mentioned largely in stories about the expansion of Chinese military power and how that power would affect the long-standing border dispute between India and China.
However, the scenarios of a world economically dominated by Japan proved to be wrong. The Japanese economy tanked and the Tigers went through a period of economic recession. However, the Chinese economy merely hiccuped and continues to grow at a very impressive rate. India has now emerged as a significant power, some areas of American high technology are largely controlled by Indian expatriates. In previous years, the jobs outsourced from the United States were in labor intensive manufacturing and reappeared in Mexico and Central America. Now, many of the jobs are in the software development and support areas, where India has gone from almost nothing to a major player. Approximately ten years ago, when I interviewed people who had received their computer science education in India; almost all of them had very little hands-on experience with computers. Most of their programs were written out and graded by the instructor without ever having been run on a computer.
The question now, and it is one with major implications for the global balance of power, is whether India can overcome its very serious problems and become a great power if not a superpower. It is still the home country of an enormous number of extremely poor people and religious, ethnic and caste differences create social problems that are very difficult to solve. There is also the continuing rivalry with Pakistan and the ongoing low-level conflict over the Kashmir region. Given that both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons, it is generally conceded that the most likely eruption of a nuclear war is between Pakistan and India.
I was very impressed by this book, particularly in the areas of the conflict between India and Pakistan and the descriptions of how the Indian leadership sees itself and the role of India in the world. There is a tendency to simplify the rivalry between India and Pakistan, ignoring the roles of Iran, Afghanistan and China. While Pakistan has the military power to stand up to India, it is inherently much weaker economically. The alliance between China and Pakistan has been fairly strong for many years, forcing India to consider potential Chinese reactions to any move India may make against Pakistan. The actions of India in regards to her weaker neighbors of Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh also made interesting reading. In some sense, India has been very much a bully, the foreign policies of Nepal and Bhutan are largely made in New Delhi.
Cohen also spends a great deal of time in describing the Indian tendency to approach events with a morally superior tone. While this is quite natural for a nation with such an extensive history, it creates problems when brutal power politics is being applied. India's two primary leaders after independence, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru both used moral superiority arguments in guiding India to independence. However, practical politics meant that force had to be used, arms purchased and relationships with other nations had to be managed. This tends to cool the moralistic ardor, but does not cancel it completely.
It is clear to all that the real question is whether India can become a great economic power. For if it can, then it will grow far more powerful than Pakistan, and the real rivalry in Asia will be between India and China. Cohen makes the arguments for both the affirmative and negative, but takes no firm position. That is a wise move, as there is enough underlying political instability to derail any movement towards economic superpower status.
India and China both have the potential to reach superpower status in at most a few decades, with China almost certain to do so. However, the status of India is less certain, there are as many reasons to believe they will as there are to believe that they won't. Cohen makes all the pro and con arguments, drawing from military, economic, religion and cultural resources. It is time that the United States once again takes an interest in India and from this book, you can learn a great deal about how India views itself, the other countries in south Asia, and the rest of world. I consider the book must reading for anyone interested in how the relationship between India and the United States should be managed.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great resource on India since 47, November 26, 2002

By 

Neel Aroon "jaroon7648" (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: India: Emerging Power (Hardcover)

As India became an independent nation in 1947, it became the world's second largest country in population and the world's larges democracies. Cohen in India:Emerging Power looks at how India has been advancing since 1947. Cohen looks at the different influences on India such as non-alliance, the Nehru view, and the Gandhi view. Cohen also deals deals with India's interactions with other countries such as the Soviet Union and later Russia, United States, Africa, China and other South Asian countries. Cohen also looks at some of the more well known issues of India such as its military. It relied on Soviet Aid for a long time but was never able to get as much as it wanted. Cohen looks at American influences on the Indian military and its desire to become an arms exporter. Cohen also looks at India's nuclear program and its relations with Pakistan. He goes through the history of the conflict and how nuclear weapons. It also deals with INdia's relations to the United states and about how the two countries can work togheter.