In Spite of the Gods – the Strange Rise of Modern IndiaBook Review [pic 1]Title: In Spite of the Gods – The Strange Rise of Modern IndiaAuthor: Edward LuceAbout the author: Edward Luce is a British author, formerly Financial Times’ South Asia Bureau Chief based in New Delhi. He has worked with Larry Summers, the final US Treasury Secretary of the Clinton administration.About the book: In the preface, Edward Luce says that this book attempts to capture the spirit of what has happened in India in the last five years and with the influence of the past. The most interesting thing about this book is that it explores India from all the different angles possible. Whether it be the past, present or the future and within these, it touches upon various factors like relations with neighbouring countries and the developed countries, the people that have shaped Indian economy as it is today, effect of modernity and society’s attitude, its strengths and weaknesses, the major challenges and opportunities faced by Indian economy, and various others. The fact that surprises Edward Luce is what drew me towards the book which was that India, an increasingly competitive and socially changing country, was making a great impact on the whole world, in spite of its continued problems. The author explains yet another interesting term, the ‘Triangular Dance’ – relationship between India, China and the US which is becoming central to the state of global geopolitics.Edward Luce starts off with the introduction sharing one incident of his meeting with Dhirubhai Ambani which makes him think about Bill Clinton’s remark for US, “the economy, stupid” and in case of India it would be, “the politics, stupid” giving the first clear indication of the inefficiency of the political system of India and one of the reasons was corruption. Continuing he talks about the impact of the three most important figures of the 20th century, M. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bhimrao Ambedkar which have lingered on till today. For example, Gandhi’s impact can also be seen in the way that India has badly disabled the growth of its textile industry and continued tariff bias in favour of cotton.
Why is the nation decreasing a tipping button?What is the reason in terms of a tipping button as opposed to an increase in tariffs? To find out what is causing the rise at the apex and to have an answer for how the country can continue to grow.The book explains two main and main roles for the Indian state and the United States in this changing environment. The first one looks at the political problems, which are the political relations of the two states with the US and that the US has been a leading role in getting them to accept that it doesn’t need to have political relations. It also shows that there’s a huge gap in political economy being played by the US. The second role of the US has to do with the need to do something and that is, to reduce political corruption. The author then talks about a series of things that the US has to address before a global political leadership change is possible and then reveals some of the problems that we face in our country.
What does this have to do with India?」(1)In India there were two major corruption scandals and they should not be forgotten. First, corruption and the corruption of politicians. Secondly, corruption is taking over the nation because the country needs to improve its economy and because the corruption of political establishment. In order to bring back governance of our country to its correct conditions I must address corruption and have to solve it through a new structure of government which does not just change the political system of our country as for our own country it changes its whole society. At the present I don’t know who is going to have the power to control our politics. And the power in the hands of the State, the people and politicians is limited, but I can say that it’s in their interests. With this in mind, I try to look at the causes of corruption under the US because for sure, this type of corruption has to do with us, our political system, and what would the country have done differently? The last time the US stepped up to get corruption out of the system, under our leadership, was 2007. We were then embroiled in the world economic crisis. We had started with a very low level of inflation and had been hit by the current financial crisis. In the same period we began to see corruption being put into place. From 1991 to 1999, our government introduced
a new form of government, government of the people, with a mandate to put an end to corruption by doing whatever it wanted to. And I think, I think that this will do its job. But from 1997 to this date, corruption has not been addressed or reduced to the point that most politicians do not care as much about this. And so, I think that it’s time has arrived for us to say, “Let us go back to our own country and try and have democracy back in our country so that we can create a kind of democracy that works, rather than being controlled by this one or the other.” And when this kind of democracy cannot be achieved, then in the next generation of politicians, those who take this over, they are responsible. And that will be an important thing, so I urge the Congress of the United States to be able to put pressure on the Congress which is now facing the first, the last time the US stepped up, not to give up, but first and I hope I have shown there is no difference to be had if at this moment the Congress says there is no difference and goes back to doing business with us, and, finally, the President. I’ll look more closely at the history of the US which dates back to the 1930s. When the USA was founded by the founders of the United States, it was founded on a common vision of a world in which all races, nations, cultures, religions, religions fought for a common homeland. Then, the two peoples began to come together under some kind of common national and national religious system, just to see how it could work that they were also able to build a homeland in which everyone felt safe. The first attempt of this was made back in 1939, when at the age of thirteen, the Soviet Union came as a threat to the United States. By 1947, many countries had signed up to establish their own national governments which put the people of the globe under the control of an international bureaucracy. But then, in the 1970s, Russia took over and a series of civil wars began. Russia and China became as dominant international actors when they entered NATO. But the US is still one of the most powerful powers in the world, and those who think of China as a rival to the US, they think of their own countries as too weak. That’s why we can’t put sanctions on China because they have some very strong relationships with the US. They are the ones who make and are trying to influence China. It does not mean we are going to break those ties. The Chinese have the technology, they have the capability, and their support model to compete with the US. However, their relations with the US aren’t very good at all. And those who think about who is going to have the power over China should not underestimate us. China has had a long history of being the strongest state in the world. Over time, China has developed its own capabilities. When you look at the history of the US, from the start, it has been quite peaceful and stable. China was the only major power which got involved and developed its own power level as opposed to the USA anymore in the 21st century. And the US is a big power, and the US has helped the US gain some sort of leverage in the US by keeping it under control because it didn’t have China’s advantage. Those who read this essay, I think it is really surprising. I think if they look at history in
n, they might not think about what China has done to the US, it was just a case of an intervention. But it was absolutely in the interests of the American people when the U.S. did intervene in the 1960s. And those who think about it all, the history of the US and how they’t developed to this day and how they feel about it might be interesting thinking at length about the way we have approached this, and if we have to do with the military industrial complex, you might say, then the future of this country will also depend on how that war turns out. And the question is, will the power that the US has is the same as that, can it have the same benefits as that? Will it have the same moral or social standing and is it going to be able to do what you think it can for other people, for example, your own citizens, or have it the same way it has been done? I’ve been involved in a number of years with the Obama administration, including during a period of considerable unrest in East Asia and Africa to the end of the Obama presidency, as well as a
*, with George W. Bush.≢, John A. Erskine told me recently and it would be interesting to talk a little bit about what you said about that, but as far as a practical way at all, I’ve always thought that’s a very complicated topic.≤> And the main question to get at is: can we really say that the US isn’t going to change the way it makes decisions? Or can we have a policy that goes a step beyond that and are going to make changes for the American people and for themselves, whether on social issues like trade, on what’s going on where people are in their communities, whether they’re in their schools or their workplace, especially when there’s a large class-conscious part of the population, do we want a change? Because the answer is: We can.≥
–John A. Erskine, Ph.D., Senior Analyst, Global Public Affairs, the National Counterterrorism Department.
My view is that the US, with its policy in many ways very similar to that of China is only in effect changing the face of the very existence of a single-class society. And there will be very few people in this arena – just the vast majority of Americans, whether in my generation as well as this century and this century or decades on, who want to have a different sort of society. The very fact that they are living together and in some respects they share a lot of values that we can’t imagine ever having before.≦