Abstract
The aim of this paper is to entangle the comparative political economic relations between India and China by first exploring the ideas involved in the critical political economy approach and then attempting to outline the bilateral and strategic foreign policy ties where unresolved (border) issues still haunt the relationship at the same time as there seems to be a convergence in development models; the intention is then to discuss the intertwined geopolitical and geo-economic foreign policy alignments in the global context where both countries share similar interests when it comes to opposing the United States and European Union in world trade and to a certain extent in security and energy matters. However, disagreement persists on unresolved problems in terms of attracting FDI, unequal trade patterns and other economic issues such as resources and energy. When it comes to the regional Asia settings, the global alignment and foreign policy convergence appears to be replaced by a much more competitive relation in strategic terms and the two entities act more as rivals for regional hegemony than as potential allies. As a tentative conclusion to the paper, a discussion of possible perspectives is provided by pointing to the soft versus hard power diplomatic relationship between the two countries.
This paper benefitted from participant’s comments at a workshop at Madras, Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India, 1 November 2011.The author would also like to thank Jacques Hersh for useful ideas as well as a number of colleagues in India and Europe.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aberg, J. H. S., & Becker, D. (2019). The world is more than a stage: Foreign policy, development and spatial performativity in Ethiopia. Territory, Politics, Governance. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2019.1675531
Amoore, L., Dodgson, R., Germain, R. D., Gills, B. K., Langley, P., & Watson, I. (2000). Paths to a historicized international political economy. Review of International Political Economy, 7(1), 53–71.
Bajaj, V. (2011, August 31). India measures itself against a China that doesn’t notice. New York Times.
Baumik, S. (2019). China’s belt and road initiative. A South Asian perspective and case for Hamny with India’s Act East Policy. Policy Paper 1 2019, Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin.
Bhadrakumar, M. K. (2009, October 17). The dragon spews fire at the elephant. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ17Df02.html
Cafruny, A. W. (2016). Introduction. In A. Cafruny, L. Talani, & G. Pozo Martin (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of critical international political economy. Palgrave handbooks in IPE. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cerny, P. G. (1999). Globalization, governance and complexity. In A. Prakash & J. A. Hart (Eds.), Globalization and governance. London: Routledge.
Cox, R. W. (1981). Social forces, states and world orders: Beyond international relations theory. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 10(2), 126–155.
Cox, R. W. (1987). Production, power and world order: Social forces in the making of history. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ganguly, M. (2011, March 8). India, Arab democracy, and human rights. Open Democracy. https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/03/09/india-arab-democracy-andhuman-rights
Ghosh, J. (2009, November 5–6). Comment at the workshop: “Nature and implications of the expanding presence of India and China for developing Asia” organised by International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India.
Hay, C. (2002). Political analysis: A critical introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jha, P. S. (2010). India and China: The battle between soft and hard power. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
Klare, M. (2010, January 5) The blowback effect, 2020.
Kronstadt, A., et al. (2011). India: Domestic issues, strategic dynamics, and U.S. relations. Washington: Congressional Research Service.
Malone, D., & Mukherjee, R. (2010). India and China: Conflict and cooperation. Survival, 52(1).
Radice, H. (1999). Taking globalisation seriously. In L. Panitch & C. Leys (Eds.), The socialist register 1999: Global capitalism versus democracy (pp. 1–28). London: Merlin.
Radice, H. (2000). Responses to globalisation: A critique of progressive nationalism. New Political Economy, 5(1), 5–19.
Roach, S. (2009). The next Asia: Opportunities and challenges for a new globalisation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Roughneen, S. (2010, August 3). India scores high on pragmatism. Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LH03Ae02.html
Saul, J. R. (2005). The collapse of globalism—And the reinvention of the world. London: Atlantic Books.
Schmidt, J. D. (2008). China’s soft power diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 26(1), 22–49.
Schmidt, J. D. (2010). A cacophony of crises: Systemic failure and reasserting people’s rights. Human Geography, 18–33. Massachusetts.
Schmidt, J. D. (2014). The Asia-Pacific strategic triangle: Unentangling the India, China, US relations on conflict and security in South Asia. Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, I(2), 203–222.
Schmidt, J. D. (2017). The internal and external constraints on foreign policy in India: Exploring culture and ethnic sensitivities. Third World Quarterly, 38(8), 1894–1908.
Sen, S. P. (2010). Crouching tiger, hidden dragon: India, China, and the dynamics of energy security. In M. P. Amineh & Y. Guang (Eds.), The globalization of energy: China and the European Union (pp. 139–178). Leiden: Brill.
Simpfendorfer, B. (2009, November 4). Beijing’s ‘Marshall plan’. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/opinion/04iht-edsimpendorfer.html?ref=global
Strange, S. (1996). The retreat of the state: The diffusion of power in the world economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wagner, C. (2010). India’s gradual rise, politics, Special issue: Perspectives on the changing global distribution of power (Vol. 30, Issue Supplement). Springer.
Williams, P. D. (2005). British foreign policy under new labour 1997-2005. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Xuetong, Y. (2011, April 1). How assertive should a great power be? International Herald Tribune.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schmidt, J.D. (2020). Introduction: India and China in Comparative Perspective—Emerging Asian and Global Powers. In: Kim, YC. (eds) China-India Relations. Understanding China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44425-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44425-9_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44424-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44425-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)