THE EMERGING GLOBAL ORDER: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC
Post-World War II, the two super powers came to dominate the world. They were the U.S.A and Russia. The world was divided into two camps dominated by the two super powers. There were a few nations that were non-aligned including India. However, the global order of the cold war days changed after the end of cold war as the USSR began to dismantle in late 1980s and by 1991 the dismantle was complete. The Berlin wall became irrelevant. Along with the changes in the physical map of the nations and the emergence of independent nations, several political and economic trends became clear.
In the beginning, it was thought that the USA would be the sole super power. However, in Asia, the rise of China has been a clear threat to the superiority of the USA. In addition, the NATO’s role became irrelevant with the collapse of the USSR and Russia was now considerably weak politically, militarily and economically.
Simultaneously, the ongoing liberalization programmes going on across the world in several countries were transforming nations. The Latin American nations like Brazil and Mexico that were heavily indebted and poverty-ridden began transforming with liberalization, In Asia, India along with China began to rise politically and economically. Several new trade blocks and economic organizations began to rise. The powerful organizations like G8, now known as G8+5 to include not only the eight powerful industrial nations but also the five leading emerging economies including Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Another powerful economic organization to emerge recently is BRIC, now expanded to BRICS. The BRIC nations include Brazil, Russia, India and China which with the addition of South Africa became BRICS. South Africa has become an important nation growing economically after the end of apartheid. The rise of China and India as major world powers promises to test the established global order in the coming decades. As the two powers grow, they are bound to change the current international system-with profound implications for themselves, the United States, and the world.
And whether they agree on the changes to be made, especially when it comes to their relationship with the West, will influence the system’s future character. A close examination of the Chinese and Indian perspectives on the fundamentals of the emerging international order reveals that Sino-Indian differences on many issues of both bilateral and global significance are stark.
China and India’s sustained economic growth fuels their increasing geopolitical and military influence. Despite their developmental similarities, China and India’s bilateral strategic rivalry means that they have competing priorities on most major global issues.
Sino-Indian differences are considerable on issues relating to the non-proliferation system, Asian security, regional stability in Southern Asia, and security in the maritime commons, space and cyberspace. The two rising powers broadly agree on matters relating to the international economic system, energy security, and the environment.
Because of its ongoing shift to the Asia-Pacific and status as the only global superpower, the United States must manage a complex set of relationships with China and India, which are at times working at cross-purposes.
China and India tend to agree on the importance of state sovereignty and the need to reform global governance institutions to reflect the new balance of power. They also share a strong commitment to the open economic order that has allowed both powers to flourish in the global marketplace. But the two diverge on many details of the international system, such as the future viability of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the role of state-owned enterprises in fostering globalization.
Both China and India want a stable Asia-Pacific that will allow them to sustain their economic prosperity, but they perceive threats very differently and have divergent priorities. Importantly, India seeks a resolute American presence in the region to hedge against possible Chinese excesses, while China sees the United States as significantly complicating its pursuit of its regional goals and worries about American containment attempts.
Beijing and New Delhi rely heavily on the open sea lines of communication, and as a result, they both support the current maritime security regime. However, their interpretations as to its provisions have occasionally diverged. In space, China enjoys significant advantages over India’ and has emphasized the military dimensions of its programme, while New Delhi has only recently begun developing space-based military technology. Both countries are just beginning to wrestle with the difficult task of forming cyber security policies, but they have already acted to limit objectionable or illegal activities online. In striking the balance between online freedom and social stability, India has encountered a higher degree of approval in the public sphere than its counterpart.
The Chinese and Indian approaches to both energy and the environment broadly converge, because India and China face a rising domestic demand for energy, they heavily rely on foreign suppliers of energy resources. This has prompted both governments to seek more efficient power sources and to secure their presence in overseas energy markets. On environmental policy, the two countries focus on primarily local and short-term concerns that must be balanced with the need for economic growth.
World orders are seldom monolithic in structure or linear in their composition. They evolve with the evolution of politics and often shelter the nuances of real politic. World orders during the course of history have given rise to the interplay of diplomacy, nationalism, political aspirations and individual ambitions.
During the course of the twentieth century, the list of the world’s great powers was predictably short: the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, and northwestern Europe. The twenty-first century promises to be different. China and India are emerging as economic and political heavyweights: China holds over a trillion dollars in hard currency reserves, India’s information technology sector is growing by leaps and bounds, and both countries, already recognized nuclear powers, are developing blue-water navies. Furthermore, the BRICS countries are also on the threshold of a major economic advancement. In other words, the current era is opening the way for a multi-polar era in world politics.