Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a general overview of how India and China have evolved over many centuries. This is essential for understanding the factors that have contributed to the development of strategic thinking in these countries. The strategic thinking constitutes an essential background to understanding the way that actors in these cultures approach the process of negotiations. China and India have considerably different historical legacies. These differences notwithstanding, we are dealing with ancient civilizations that have had their ups and downs during the ages. The East India Company played an important role in India, in sharp contrast to China. In China no company had so much influence and ultimately China was never colonized except for settlements in coastal cities. This is a crucial difference in the historical evolution of these societies and one that has had an important impact in terms of how they each relate to the external world. The other significant difference and one of more recent origin, is the Chinese experience of Communism. India, although attracted to the socialist model, never underwent a revolution of the type that China went through. Mao Zedong’s legacy was in many ways repudiated by Deng Xiaoping, and this led China to reverse radically its path of economic transformation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
S. P. Cohen (2001) Emerging Power: India (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
I. Kiesow and N. Norling. (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities. (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
S. Khilnani (1997) The Idea of India (New Delhi: Penguin Books).
B. Stein (1998) A History of India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
B. Stein (1998) A History of India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 207–8.
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program)
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program).
I. Kiesow and N. Norling (2007) The Rise of India: Problems and Opportunities (Uppsala, Sweden: The Silk Road Studies Program), 22.
S. P. Cohen (2001) Emerging Power: India (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 17.
W. Eberhard (1967) A history of China (London: Compton Printing).
R. MacFarquhar (1974) The Origins of the Cultural Revolution (London: Oxford University Press).
Copyright information
© 2011 Rajesh Kumar and Verner Worm
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kumar, R., Worm, V. (2011). India and China: A Historical Overview. In: International Negotiation in China and India. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230353909_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230353909_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-31921-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-35390-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)