The rise of regional parties has fundamentally transformed electoral politics in India, but those parties may not be the juggernauts they’re made out to be. Read Here – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In India, notions of dating and love are transforming. More young people than ever expect to chose their own partners, but joblessness and other economic woes prevent them from taking control of their own lives. And that makes India’s sexual revolution a rather tense affair. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
We are seeing a tremendous rise in living standards across Asia, with poverty disappearing everywhere you look. In China, for example, since initiating market reforms, more than 600 million people have been rescued from absolute poverty. We’ll see a far greater improvement in living standards within the region than we have seen in centuries. And, […]
The heads of government of the 53 nations of the Commonwealth come together every two years for a summit. This time, several have decided to stay away, to boycott the gathering in Sri Lanka Read Here – BBC
In recent weeks, China has signed nearly $100 billion in energy contracts to increase Chinese access to the abundant petroleum resources of Central Asia. A major advantage of obtaining oil from Siberia and Central Asia is that it could travel to China overland—and thus beyond the reach of U.S. naval power. Read Here – The […]
Pew’s Religious Restrictions Report finds that India scores “high” on government restrictions and “very high” on social hostilities indexes. In addition, a Pew survey of nations with significant Muslim populations excluded India, as local survey houses feared that questions on religious identity and belief could put interviewers’ safety at risk from local authorities or residents. […]
One future is an Asia that is relatively familiar: a region whose economies continue to enjoy robust levels of growth and manage to avoid conflict with one another. The second future could hardly be more different: an Asia of increased tensions, rising military budgets, and slower economic growth. Read Here – Council On Foreign Relations
Shinzo Abe’s first, brief premiership ended in disaster. Yet now, recovered from debilitating illness, the conservative nationalist is back in power and, emboldened by “Abenomics”, is determined to revitalise Japan after many years of decline. Read Here – The New Statesman
China’s international role is changing. But the country is struggling to reconcile its traditional foreign policy of non-interference with its growing economic presence around the world. Read Here – Asia Centre
The middle class in China remains an essential part of the state from which it has emerged and is not very likely to be the Chinese equivalent of the European or North American bourgeoisie with whom it is often equated. Read Here – Christian Science Monitor
looking beyond borders 