Wednesday, November 30, 2011
What Each Country is Presently Best at- India, China, and US
Book Reviews
Book Review: Economic Reform In China And India: Development Experience In A Comparative Perspective By: C. H. Chai and Kartik Chandra Roy
In this book, the authors offer a comparative analysis of the developmental experiences of China and India, applying quantitative analysis to investigation of economic, social, political, and environmental aspects of the countries. Chai and Roy provide a wealth of information on this crucial issue, through “Economic reform in China and India.” They do a superb job of analyzing two major emerging economies under different economic and political systems.
Basically, “Economic Reform in China and India” examines /reviews the development strategies pursued by the two countries over the last 50 years in general and exploring recently introduced reform measures in particular. The book assesses the performance of China and India at both macro and sectoral levels (including economic, social, political and environmental aspects). It illustrates the reasons why China has outperformed India in the past (a concept that is essential for paper) and identifies the obstacles that India will face in its attempts to catch up with China. The book also provides solutions for China and India that can be applied to other developing countries. This book is invaluable for my research because it focuses on the economic development and political reforms of India and China.
Book Review: India: A Portrait by Patrick French
"With its overlap of extreme wealth and lavish poverty … its competing ideologies, its lack of uniformity, its kindness and profound cruelty, its complex relationships with religion, its parallel realities and the rapid speed of social change — India is a macrocosm, and may be the world's default setting for the future," writes Patrick French in "India: A Portrait," in which he combines historical analysis with concise reportage, where he tries to to capture the country in all its volatility.
Patrick French tries to look at how contemporary India reached its present state and what we can expect to see from the country in the future. I used this book in my paper because I felt Mr. French had vividly captured the complexities and contradictions of the world's largest democracy – the poverty, the corruption, the nepotism, the chaos, and get the economic growth and sustaining of democracy. Also, he tries to thoroughly give a historical background to recent economic and political development, something that has not been covered widely in other books.
I liked how Mr. French does not ignore the reigning parties of India. French goes out of his way to explain the current leading parties of India and their governance of the country. He doesn't say that hereditary MPs are bad, or that they should not stand for election, but he shows how political success depends on who your parents are. And how that later leads to the economic policies of India.
I also liked how he also breaks his book into three sections — "Rashtra," dealing with the evolution of national politics, "Lakshmi" aka economics and "Samaj" aka society and religion, which cover and show how all of these elements are interconnected.
BOOK REVIEW: INDIA’S POLITICAL ECONOMY BY FRANCINE R FRANKEL.
This book is monumental for my research and work and will be a compulsory reference throughout my paper. It’s important for anyone wanting to understand the political influences behind the economic policies of India since independence.
Frankel throughout the books exhaustively analyses the political social and historical context of the economic policies after Indian independence, especially that of the Nehru years. But I do think she could have analyzed the military, security and foreign policy issues more, because they lead to a considerable revision in India’s policies in this uni-polar and globalizing world. Since these issues also influenced economic policies and outcomes, their detailed coverage would have been useful. For example, more attention should have been paid to the India-Pakistan, along with India-China, relationship and its economic effects on both countries, India’s ability to impose he nuclear tests by the new NDA government, and the overtures and defense expenditures
But I did enjoy the few last chapters of the book, when Frankel, discusses challenge of Hindu nationalism- primary internal political challenge of harmony (for everyone-communal) that India must attempt if they want to eradicate poverty, along with the development of the very poor, through democracy. But the book could have devoted more attention to the development of caste-oriented politics and the consequent fracturing of political parties and the entrenchment of the economic policies of government giveaways.
Overall, this book is an excellent history of Indian political economy. It is short on alternative policies, though that may not have been the purpose of the book. For example it seems clear that Economic growth is the aim of national parties, not the regional ones that appear to hold the political balance. Growth (not handouts) could reduce poverty speedily. Increasing urbanization might help reduce caste and communal divisions. Though I did find certain topics lacking in analysis, Frankel does an excellent job in covering numerous contentious issues of recent history, which most people would find little to disagree with. It was very un-prejudiced and Frankel doesn’t constantly express her opinions on several of the controversies she mentions (unlike other books I have found on India’s political system and economy).
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Book Review: Health, Civilization And The State
One major book that I have been using that has contributed to my understanding of Britain’s healthcare system and social healthcare in general is Health, Civilization and the State. Its written by Dorothy Porter and was published in 1999; the book is a comprehensive review of the development of healthcare throughout the worlds history and it does a great job of reciting the developments of the healthcare systems throughout the years. Dorothy Porter starts with the development of health systems in the ancient world and talks about how health was generally viewed in ancient society. The book also deals with states generalizations of health and what factors they felt constituted a healthy human being. It’s interesting to see how these concepts have changed over years as we have gained more knowledge of the human body.
Porter continues her discussion about health by bringing it into the modern state area and closely examines the development of healthcare within Europe. She focuses mainly of the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and Germany. She reserves a special chapter for the development of healthcare in the United States which she relegates to chapter 9 of the text. Dorothy Porter spends at least 3 three non-sequential chapters dealing with healthcare in Britain since it’s development was different than other modern states. She devotes one chapter alone to Victorian Era England and the “Sanitary Debates” which brought the issue of public sanitation to the forefront of British politics. She also spends a chapter dealing with healthcare in the modern welfare state which is helpful to my paper and the formulation of some of my ideas and arguments.
A criticism I have with the book is that it’s focus deals mainly with Western countries, I would have liked to see her analyze the healthcare systems of Asia or Africa or even South America. Also there is a lot of information in the book but not all of it is relevant; however this is a small gripe since even the information that I felt was irrelevant was still interesting.
I would definitely recommend Health, Civilization and the State to anyone who is interested in learning more about the development of healthcare throughout the ages. It has great information, and it’s a very interesting read for anyone who is interested.
Porter, Dorothy. Health, Civilization and the State. London: Routlegde, 1999. Print.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Book review: "Libya's Qaddafi"
One of the main books for my research is "Libya's Qaddafi: The Politics of Contradiction" written by Mansour O. El-Kikhia. This book was published back in 1997 and by reading it I have gained a better understanding not just of Libya for the content of my paper but also a better understanding of the current events that took place in Libya this year. El-Kikhia is a Libyan and gives the book a distinctly Libyan point of view that was lacking in my other sources.
In the preface of the book, El-Kikhia writes that the book is not necessarily intended for experts on Libya, but is instead intended more for students/journalists/lay people. I find that establishing this target audience really helped El-Kikhia in his book because he focused on creating a coherent whole that could be easily understood. But at the same time he went into deep detail where he felt it was appropriate and helped the overall quality of the work.
I always found it impressive that despite being Libyan, El-Kikhia was able to write a comprehensive work about Libya under Gadhafi without exhibiting any type of bias. I say this because there is almost no work by Libyans on Libya that aren't pro-Gadhafi or anti-Gadhafi. There is no question that a person always has an opinion or view of some sort of their home country and its leaders. For El-Kikhia to put any such opinion and bias aside, and focus instead on providing an account of Libya based through a political, economic, and social lens was very impressive.
The only point of negative criticism that I would offer of this book would be the quality of the part of the book dealing with Libya's economy. I found it to be somewhat too general at times and lacking the details that were found in others parts of the book dealing with the political and social aspects of Libya under Gadhafi. The best and most valuable aspect of the book is the clear and concise description it offers of the political structure of Libya under Gadhafi.
As a whole, I would definitely recommend this book to any other students out there doing any research on Libya during the rule of Gadhafi. Even though it is more than a decade old, the insight into Gadhafi's mind and his country that El-Kikhia's work offers is timeless.
El-Kikhia, Mansour O. Libya's Qaddafi: the politics
of contradiction. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Review: Social Intifada
Although the protests in Yemen have generally been affiliated with those non-violent protests in Tunisia and Yemen, because of the complexities of socio-religio-political groups, there has been an explosion of violence throughout the republic. Armed military units, tribal forces, and other militants have eliminated the change of any revolution being a peaceful one. Because of this widespread violence, the prospects o the conflict in Yemen leading to a Somali-style anarchy is being considered over the idea of Yemen becoming a democratic republic of sorts.
Fattah immediately provides a bleak picture of the socio-economic climate of Yemen, and the figures are quite daunting: 24 million people spread over 135,000 villages, 75% of Yemenis living in rural villages with 15% of those villages having no electricity, 40% unemployment and 43% of a rapidly growing population living below the poverty line. This paints a picture tremendously more dire than Egypt or Tunisia. In 2003 75 percent of the government’s revenue came from 450,000 barrels of oil per day; by 2009, this fell to 180,000 barrels per day. With these statistics, Fattah demonstrates that Saleh’s regime is clearly one struggling to survive, and the president has continued to manipulate any and all regional or international issue from the War on terror to the Sunni-Shia “cold war”.
Three groups were identified by Fattah as the central players in the protests. The first was the large peaceful youth movements I indicated earlier. The second is the tribal group headed by the al-Ahmar family which is the most influential as far as military and financial means are concerned. The third is made up of formal oppositional parties, which is generally the weakest. However, in Yemen, unlike Egypt, they were formulated and made their demands known right away as protests began, as opposed to the Egyptians, which occurred after the protests were successful. This only adds to the complexity of thepolitical arena in Yemen.
There is no single individual, group, or institution, for that matter that can take over if Saleh steps down or is forced down. Yemen provides an excellent example of a revolution in a fragile state, where a variety of groups can fill the power vacuum and potentially create a Yemen that would resemble more of a Somalia than even an Egypt, and certainly not a Tunisia. Fattah concludes by claiming that major political changes in Yemen are closely fused with political changes in Saudi Arabia.
Fattah, Khaled. "Yemen: A Social Intifada in a Republic of Sheikhs." 2011.Middle East Policy 18 (3): 79-85.
Review: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes in Yemen
Dancing on the Heads of Snakes in Yemen, by Hofstra University’s anthropologist, Dr. Daniel Martin Varisco had just further proven the domination of historians and anthropologists on Yemen in particular. Although the article started off almost as a personal anecdote describing his experience and expertise in Yemen, he offered incredible insight as a scholar who does research in the state and refreshingly does not claim to be an expert in the entire region or in the state religion. He emphasizes the need to interact with the people by “conversing within their own language” and that “being there… provides the context for detail and nuance that otherwise would be very difficult to tease out of social relations and ever changing cultural values” (302). He does point out a critical point that I made regarding the Tribes of Yemen, which is that all too often, every published ethnography becomes “the” representation of a particular society or group. Yet, in a society like Yemen, which is still, in many ways, dictated by tribal affiliations and there are tremendous fault lines between the north and the south, as well as the city and the village, this statement Is certainly a necessary one to make. “The Interweaving of ongoing cultural values with inevitable change is best served by tracing the genealogy of such culture change.”
Since the beginning of the Arab spring in January, many have credited the revolutions as social media revolutions. However, Varisco brings up another point, which distinguishes the Yemeni experience from the other states undergoing or have underwent revolutions, there is a general lack of access to the internet in Yemen. 46% of Yemen’s population is under the age of 15 so the problems that face the upcoming generations will only be exacerbated (302). The underlying challenges facing the educated youth and the under-educated youth are generally similar throughout MENA: lack of jobs, outdated and corrupt institutions, generational clash over values.
Another critical issue that distinguishes Yemen is its powerful tribal affiliations, which are also quite different from Libya as well. The nature of Saleh’s power as a president is severely influenced by the nature of the tribal structure. Thus, Saleh has never been able to establish control over the entire state. It is the local autonomy of tribes that have kept the state together. Varisco describes an observation made in his research that in 1978 1/3 of the male workforce lived outside the country and sent money back to build at the local level. The numbers are arguably still staggering, however, this community orientation has been disrupted by a new type of politics and the influence of Wahabism (302). Salafi money from Saudi Arabia has brought about an ultra-conservative view of Islam, called Salafism or Wahabism in the north.
Varisco, Daniel Martin. "Dancing on the Heads of Snakes in Yemen." Society (Springer) 48, no. 4 (2011): 301-303.
Review- Conflict in Yemen: Simple People, Complicated Circumstances
Lucas Winter, a researcher at the Foreign Military Studies Office, brings about yet another aspect of contemporary Yemeni violence aside from the revolution. A small group of religious extremists in Saada, inspired by former Member of Parliament Hussein al-Houthi, took up arms against the Yemeni government in an attempt to seize by force a share of power greater than the “democratic means” would yield. This group appealed to Shi’a parties outside of Yemen such as Hezbollah and various groups in Iran to engage in guerrilla warfare tactics to restore the Imamate that was overthrow in 1962. In his article, Winter is attempting to do what others have not, which is to provide a “concise picture that highlights some of the conflict’s main issues” (102-03).
The beginnings of this conflict can be an example of the changing face of Islam especially in the Shi’a north when in 2003, Saleh arrested over 600 individuals in Saada after making anti-Semitic and anti-American chants during Friday prayer when Saleh expected to speak. Later, attacks began on government installations in the province by a Zaydi community. Soon began the campaigns of al-Houthi and the government’s counter campaigns against him to curb his influence. Year after year, fighting between the government and different Houthi groups have gotten closer and closer to the capital (104).
This article establishes the important role of the Houthi conflict within the greater context of the Yemeni revolution to remove Saleh from power and the implications of the revolution’s success of the Huthi movement. Certainly if the regime is attempting to establish their sovereignty in this territory, arguably for the first time- according to Lisa Weeden- then Saleh’s government is fighting in two fronts. This is exactly what President Saleh has continued to argue and he shamelessly couples the protests in Sana’a and Taiz with the struggles the government has had with the Houthis and al-Qaeda.
Before the Arab Spring, Saleh was struggling with a Houthi revolt in the north, separatist unrest in the south and a resurgent wing of al-Qaeda. Although the Houthi rebellion is generally demolished, the Islah Party (which is liken to the Muslim brotherhood), the Yazidis (both Sunnis and Salafis), and the Houthis are all united against Saleh. These groups have developed a coalition that is, at the very least, equally as powerful against the regime as the youth-based groups.
Winter, Lucas. "Conflict in Yemen: Simple People, Complicated Circumstances." Middle East Policy XVIII, no. 1 (2011): 102-120.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)