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User:Effer/India as an emerging superpower

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For more information on the topic see Emerging superpowers and Superpower
Republic of India
  India

The Republic of India is considered as one of the possible emerging superpowers of the world.[1][2][3][4] This potential is attributed due to several indicators, the primary ones being its demographic trends and a rapidly expanding economy. However the country suffers from many economic, social, and political problems that it must overcome before it can be considered a superpower. It is also not yet influential on the international stage as compared to the United States or the former Soviet Union.


Points against the rise of India as a superpower

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Political obstacles

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India has had border disputes with both the People's Republic of China and Pakistan. This has led to 3 wars with Pakistan and a war with China. Mapped is the location of the 1999 Kargil Conflict, which is the most recent of India's direct military encounters with the Pakistani military.
  • Cost of Democratic Republicanism - Democratic republicanism has its value,[5] more so in a multi-ethnic country like India [6]. However, the applicability of the "theoretical" virtues of republicanism on a country like India is sometimes questioned.[7] [8] [9] Some thinkers consider India's diverse democracy to levy a huge tax on its economy.[10] The Indian government has to consider many interest groups before decision making. However, it should be noted that India is relatively a much younger republic when compared to other major democracies. Moreover, it is predicted that in the long run, India being a democracy will provide it an edge over non-democratic competitors like China.[11]
  • Insurgency - India has had significant successes with quelling many insurgencies, most prominently the Sikh terrorism (Khalistan) and the surrender of large sections of insurgent outfits like the United Liberation Front of Asom in 1992 and National Liberation Front of Tripura in 2000-2001. However the Indian government has acknowledged that there has been a dramatic increase in support for the Maoists (Naxalite) insurgency in the last decade.[12] Maoist rebels have increased their influence over the last 10 years, especially in regions near Nepal, particularly by targeting and gaining support from poor villages in India. The boom in support appears to have been also boosted by the successes of the nearly 10-year-old Maoist rebellion in Nepal. The maoist insurgency exploits the poor by forced conscription. India's government has recently taken a new stance on the Maoist insurgency, pulling the affected states together to coordinate their response. It says it will combine improved policing with socio-economic measures to defuse grievances that fuel the Maoist cause[13].
  • Disputes - India's growth is impeded by disputes with its neighboring People's Republic of China and Pakistan (over historical border and ideological issues) and disputes with Bangladesh (over water availability and the Farakka Dam). Hence, India's neighbors such as China and Pakistan remain distrustful towards India. It is also occasionally burdened with instability issues within some localised-regions of the subcontinent. In an effort to reduce political tension and increase economic cooperation, in recent years, India has improved its relations with its neighbors [14].
  • Lack of international representation - India is not a member of the UNSC, although currently it is one of the four-nations group actively seeking a permanent seat in the council. Thus India lacks the ability to extend its influence or ideas on international events in the way superpowers do. [15]

Social issues

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Main article: Reservations in India
  • Communal violence- India has a diverse mix of various religions and races. The majority are Hindus by religion, followed by Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Bahaii and many more. Though most religions in India have been practising religious tolerance in their histories, the partition and subsequent terrorism had created some degree of uneasiness among some. The uneducated masses of these various groups sometimes get at odds with one another.[16] [17] [18] However in recent years, relations between the different religious groups have considerably changed for better. For instance, a real chunk of India's celebrities - sporting legends, film stars, industrialists, artists, politicians, scientists, head-of-state, etc - have come from various non-majority roots, representing the emerging face of new diverse India.[19]
  • Social Divide - The problem of India's social divide is often linked to its millenia-old caste system.[20] In an attempt to eliminate the caste system, the Indian government has introduced special quotas for low-caste Indians in educational institutions and jobs. The measure is with the motive of helping lower-caste Indians to pursue higher education and thereby elevate their standard of life. However, the system is often criticised about its effectiveness as so called creamy layer (rich among the lower caste) get non-needed advantage & leave other lower caste groups poor only.[21] [22] There also have been cases of reverse-discrimination and persecution of upper castes by lower castes [23][24].

See also

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References

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  1. ^ NIC Global Trend
  2. ^ US Today on NIC report
  3. ^ Lowy Institute paper - The Next Economic Giant
  4. ^ Newsweek : India Rising
  5. ^ World Bank -The Value of Democracy
  6. ^ Democracy and Islam Iranian
  7. ^ Democracy, drought and starvation in India
  8. ^ Desperately seeking democracy
  9. ^ Indian Democracy Has Collapsed
  10. ^ Economist: Democracy's drawbacks
  11. ^ Race to the Top of the World - India vs China - BBC Documentary
  12. ^ Insurgency VOA News
  13. ^ Indian Maoist violence
  14. ^ India, China to speed up border dispute talks Xinhua Net
  15. ^ Is India a Major Power?
  16. ^ Hindu-Muslim Conflict in India
  17. ^ RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN INDIA
  18. ^ "Diversity" In India Capitalism magazine
  19. ^ Indian Muslim image is transforming Milli Gazette
  20. ^ Caste system main barrier to India's IT superpower ambitions? Express India
  21. ^ Furore reflects India's caste complexities BBC News
  22. ^ World Bank warning India India Daily
  23. ^ 'We Are Like The Jews: Politics apart, Brahmin-bashing is rampant in literary and cultural worlds too'
  24. ^ Are Brahmins the Dalits of Today?
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Articles

Books

  • The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century Thomas L.Friedman
  • Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz
  • India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age by Gurcharan Das (ISBN 0-385-72074-2)
  • India: An Investor’s Guide to the Next Economic Superpower by Aaron Chaze
  • Social Problems in India/B.K. Prasad
  • Energy Crisis in India by M. G. Mehetre
  • India: Emerging Power by Stephen P. Cohen (ISBN 0-8157-1501-3)
  • India 2020 by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Y.S. Rajan (ISBN 0-14-027833-8)
  • India as an Emerging Power by Sumit Ganguly (ISBN 0-7146-8321-3)

Media

Websites

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