A compelling short essay by Hannah Rothschild raises concern about the impacts each distinct government - China and India - will have on their fortunes and on the world at large. 

INDIA and CHINA  

What impact will the two different styles of government of India and China have on their respective fortunes and on the global stage? 

by Hannah Rothschild, 2007 

We live in a global age where every great power interacts with and affects each other. At this moment we’re witnessing a great renaissance in Asia where the growing economic success of India and China is beginning to translate into political and military power.  One of the most fascinating aspects of this unfolding drama is how will these two very different styles of government, one democratic and the other a single party republic, will affect both domestic fortunes and foreign policy.

Does an understanding of the ideology of a superpower give us an insight into how that country’s foreign policy might unfold? Hitler laid out his thoughts and intentions in Mein Kampf. George Bush’s neo-con values are well documented. What do we know about Chinese and Indian values and how could such knowledge be useful? There are clear concerns given that both countries have strained relationships with their neighbours, both have nuclear capability. China now has more military personal than America; India’s army is growing.

Military prowess may not be as important as exploitative power. As stocks of hydrocarbon and other finite raw materials dwindle, those holding the “energy strings� become more important. Russia may once have been a military superpower but today her strength is based on oil and gas. How will China and India cope with funding and sourcing their consumer habits? And how will they use their own resources? What, for example, will be the eventual impact of Chinese investment in Africa? Or of huge Indian companies such as Tata which have bigger incomes and resources than many nation states?

How important is the type of government when it comes to predicting future success?  Clearly both the Chinese and the Indians are highly intelligent, creative, inventive and hardworking people. But if we look into the crystal ball and the rest of this century can we make broad assumptions about which political system is more suited to success in the 21st century? In his new book about China, ‘The Writing on the Wall’, Will Hutton argues, “the contradictions of an authoritarian state are fundamentally disabling and that China has no choice but to embrace mechanisms such as a free press and representative governance.� He points out that China is a long way off having a company in the world’s top one hundred.

But is an open government a prerequisite for success? This certainly hasn’t been the case historically as the study of Emperors, dictators, Kings and Generals will confirm. However, India has already proved herself to be a nation of entrepreneurs. They must have been aided by the culture of argument found in any vibrant democracy, by the fluidity of movement and thought and by having English as a common language. Though Chinese use of the Internet is set to overtake America’s in the near future, the well-publicized censorship of Chinese Google means that the average Mandarin speaking citizen doesn’t have the opportunity to engage in an international forum that most Indians enjoy.

Some will say that these kinds of questions are specious and facile. Why compare and contrast two very different cultures and try and draw conclusions about their characters and intentions. Why presume that they are locked in some kind of race and assume a judgement day at the end? And what point does this kind of exercise have when policy, both domestic and foreign is carried out with equal brutality in the name of democracy, and Islam, Socialism and so forth. Nevertheless, we live in frightening times where a network such as Al Qaeda is driven by ideology and not geographical loyalty and its army is not necessarily contained within any one country’s borders. We know also that we’re in a highly competitive race to secure the Earth’s resources and that this race is being run with great danger to our environment.

Understanding both China and India’s needs and aspirations and the way they mean to satisfy and achieve these ends is an important priority. Their respective styles of government offer heavy clues about their future and impact on the world in the 21st century.

Hannah Rothschild
London 2007

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.