Showing posts with label india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india. Show all posts

The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us Review

The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us
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The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us ReviewI have read a number of books in the last 6-9 months that deal specifically with the economic rise by China and correlating threat for the US ("China Shakes the World" comes to mind). "The World Is Flat" also is in the same vein.
In "The Elephant and the Dragon" (245 pages), Robyn Meredith, a Hong Kong-based journalist for Forbes magazine, does an excellent job setting the table of what is going on these days in China (some of it was a repeat for me) and also in India, which I am less familiar with, and hence that peaked my interest. Meredith makes the point that "It is easy to see why India has not yet attracted many new factories. India's developing-world infrastructure prevents companies from exporting their goods cheaply and quickly." The author also demonstrates how "Creating vast numbers of jobs for India's poor is critical, literally a matter of life and death". The environmental problems of China (but also India) are well documented. Observes the author: "China already has environmental regulations on its books. But it is less zealous about protecting its air and water than about protecting economic growth."
The real pay-off for this book, however, comes in the lsat chapter, "A Catalyst for Competitiveness", in which the author addresses the challenges for the US head-on, and then makes a number of suggestions. The author demonstrates in a clear fashion how disastrous it would be for China to reevaluate its currency by 20-40 percent (or for the US to slap an import duty on that magnitude on Chinese imports), and that even if it happened, it would have little impact on the US job market, and furthermore how Americans are directly benefitting from the cheaper Chinese currency. Meredith dryly observes that of course we wouldn't be dealing with this, if consumers simply stopped shopping at Walmart (which, incidentally, as a single company imports more from China than all of Canada COMBINED.) Here is the author's bottom line: "[W]hat the United States must do is clear: it must strengthen its educational and economic foundations and foster the innovation that will keep the United Staes ahead in the technology that underpins so many parts of the nation's culture and the global economy". The author then expands on that in the book's final pages. Must-read!
I can only hope our policy makers in Washington and elsewhere are reading this book, and start acting in the best economic interest of our country, rather than acting out of short term elections-driven positioning! Because of the impending impact all of this will have on today's youth, this book should be required reading for all high school seniors and for college kids. Highly recommended!The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us Overview

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Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge Review

Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge
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Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge ReviewSegal presents a thoroughly researched, exceptionally well-written account of the issues confronting India and China as they continue to attempt to develop the capacity for technological innovation. It is at once a cautionary tale of how far they have come; an optimistic view of the strengths of the American culture of innovation and market exploitation, and a realistic challenge to American corporate and political systems to embrace an open global technological marketplace with the confidence that will be required to take maximal advantage of this marketplace. Emphasizing the culture of cooperation and competition in the U.S.; the transparent and consistent U.S. legal structure; and the proven ability of American business to transform innovation into marketplace successes, he clearly defines what will be required in the coming years to maintain the leading economic and technological status America currently enjoys. A fantastic book.Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge Overview

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Frommer's India (Frommer's Complete Guides) Review

Frommer's India (Frommer's Complete Guides)
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Frommer's India (Frommer's Complete Guides) ReviewFrommer's is packed with information, and it's reasonably well organized. It covers a huge and diverse country with a reasonable amount of detail. It's written to appeal to a wide range of travelers, but it's probaly most useful for people who are (1) traveling on their own rather than on a group tour and (2) planning to go mid- to high budget, not low-budget. (Mid-budget in India will get a you a long way -- food, services and rail are amazingly inexepensive as of March '07.)
There's a bit of hysteria in the section on getting ready -- you don't need all those immunizations unless you're going to places where the specific disease is endemic. Check on-line with the US Centers for Disease Control for more realistic advice.
In contrast, the authors are right on target when they warn repeatedly about minor scams. From the moment you go through customs you will be approached by people who have some offer that's a scam or semi-scam. Even when you hire a good guide from a good company, there's a high probability that you'll be taken to a shop whose owner gives the guide a commission. It's endless and ultimately an amusing game, and Frommer's does a great job of hoisting the warning flag. Pay attention - from the second you arrive.
The book also warns against trying to drive yourself in India. I've driven in places like Sao Paulo, Bogota, Rome and Mexico City (and Boston!), and I agree with that warning. Driving in India was scary 25 years ago and it's even more so now due to the great increase in traffic. There are clearly rules of the road, but you'll be dead before you figure them out, so hire a driver locally, fly long distances, and take the train inter-city when flying doesn't make sense.
The discussions in the front of the book about what's good and what's great are excellent and valuable in helping you decide how to spend limited time in India. The suggestions are divided into rankings of sites and rankings of "moments" or experiences. In the back, theres a short but useful section on Indian history and on its multiple cultures, knowledge that you can use to put what you see into context.
The book's one major fault is the lack of good city maps, as mentioned by another reviewer. Even the state maps are poor in terms of identifying good roads and main rail lines. There's a reasonably good explanation of how the rail system works and it tells you what class of travel to book, but that section would be improved with a clear description of what you get at each level of service. (The top level of overnight train is 1 AC which is a 2- or 4-berth air conditioned compartment, and the bottom level is Sleeper, which is a bare bench in a wretchedly crowded coach.)
The book is organized by state and region, and two places that could be twelve hours apart may follow one another in the text, with no indication of their separation. It can take an hour or more to go 30 miles on a main highway; a table of time between major points of interest would help readers plan a realistic itinerary.
Despite these shortcomings, Frommer's India is a solid guide packed with useful information. Not perfect, but very good.
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Speaking of India: Bridging the Communication Gap When Working With Indians Review

Speaking of India: Bridging the Communication Gap When Working With Indians
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Speaking of India: Bridging the Communication Gap When Working With Indians ReviewI am an Indian and I read this book with great interest. I was amazed how he captured some of the things which we Indians do (especially the way we conduct meetings) but never realize.
What I don't like is when he starts discussing the reasoning behind the behaviour. At one point, he says that the reasons why Indians don't speak up has something to do with the fact that they have been ruled for years so they developed that awe for westerners. That is so funny.
The true reason behind the behaviour is not what he describes. The fact is that most of the western people face Indians when they outsource their IT work. In India, customer is god. Thats what Gandhi told us and thats what we are told from childhood. And in most interactions western people are customers, so Indians tend to respect them. Also, in India, respect for older people is a given thing. And most westerns are old as comparison to young IT people working on their projects. These are two prime reasons that Indian people don't openly oppose western people. It is so unfortunate to see author's reasons behind this behavior.
I have lived and travelled to different countries and studied culture out of my passion and am amazed by the differences in the culture. I always check with local people about the reasons behind their behavior. I wish the author had done more research with the local people before he gave his reasons for different cultural traits. At times it appears he is writing reasons that he thinks his typical readers would like to hear. Can I ever tell you better than you can tell me why you behave like you do?
So readers, do read his book to understand different cultural and behavior traits. However, take his reasoning with a pinch of salt. My belief is that reasoning behind cultural traits can by hypothesized only after thorough research of history and culture of a place. It is difficult to get a credible hypothesis after a superficial interaction with a small sample size of people of that place.Speaking of India: Bridging the Communication Gap When Working With Indians Overview

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God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue Review

God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue
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God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue ReviewI have also investigated sex trafficking internationally and read thousands of pages concerning the heinous crimes associated with Human Trafficking...this is by far the best first person account I have read. Not only does the author describe his experiences in heart stopping detail, he is able to educate those who have a passion to serve the millions of tiny victims across the globe. We in the investigations and aftercare community should make this book a must read. And for those who want to get involved on a more personal level, support Walker's organization; Nvader. Bless you Mr. Walker for the service you have given, at great expense to you personally, to bring rescue to the sex-slaves who have no access to justice.God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue Overview

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Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry Review

Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry
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Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry Review"Challenging the Chip" by Ted Smith, David Sonnenfeld and David Naguib Pellow (editors) is a collection of essays on the labor and environmental problems of the electronics industry. The thirty-plus contributors to the book were connected through a series of symposiums wherein this ambitious project was conceptualized. By describing their shared experiences, the authors succeed in articulating why the public must demand corporate accountability in order to gain economic and environmental sustainability.
The editors merit praise. The book contains over 25 articles but contains no weak material. The writers seem to have expressed a high degree of collegiality by voluntarily subjecting their work to extensive peer review, criticism and revision. The result is a remarkably even and high-quality series of essays that are characterized by ample research, insight and analysis. The editors also supply excellent introductions and expertly frame the key issues that are discussed in each section of the book.
The first section is titled, 'Global Electronics'. Seven articles describe how the production and distribution of electronics are organized on a global scale. We learn that multinational corporations tend to avoid social responsibility by exploiting workers in poor nations with either lax or non-enforced labor and environmental laws such as China, India, Thailand and more recently, countries in Eastern Europe. Oftentimes, the most vulnerable workers are subjected to subsistence wage relations without union representation and exposure to occupational health hazards without protection or compensation when illness ensues. This grim reality is in stark contrast to the manipulated media images that are projected to consumers by the relatively small number of major corporations who control the supply chains that tie these far-flung operations together.
The second section is 'Environmental Justice and Labor Rights'. Nine articles written by local activists and scholars drill in-depth into environmental and labor issues at the local level. We learn that the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition first brought widespread attention to the e-waste problem and the widespread use of toxic chemicals in the semiconductor manufacturing process, subsequently blowing the lid off the self-serving but deceptive image of this supposedly 'clean' industry. Other noteworthy stories include how IBM hid data from workers about known cancer risks at their factories; the activist community of Silicon Glen in Scotland and its struggle to protect worker health; the deleterious effects of the NAFTA agreement on pollution and degraded working conditions in Mexico; worker struggle and environmental exploitation in Taiwan; and more. Among many insights offered, these articles suggest that profitability is built upon a strategy of state protection that allows the industry to shed responsibility and externalize many unwanted costs onto others.
The final section is on the topic of 'Electronic Waste and Extended Producer Responsibility'. Eight articles discuss the factors driving the increase in e-waste and how the costs of disposal are increasingly borne by the poor. The authors inform us that while nations within the EU and Japan have taken steps to regulate e-waste and thereby encourage smarter product design and recycling programs, the U.S. has lagged far behind, often preferring to dump its garbage in landfills or export to poor countries where obsolete equipment is dismantled under hazardous conditions. However, the inspiring story about the 'toxic dude' campaign organized against Dell illustrates that public pressure can succeed in changing the behavior of some U.S. corporations, however modestly.
I highly recommend this insightful and timely book to activists, students and everyone else interested in learning more about an increasingly urgent problem.
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Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT (Information Technology) Outsourcing Review

Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT (Information Technology) Outsourcing
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Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT (Information Technology) Outsourcing ReviewI read this as an attempt to learn more about technology outsourcing in China. Source Code China by Cyrill Eltschinger explores how to take advantage of China's educated workforce. The books reads a lot like one of those "For Dummies" books. Topics are covered superficially with many generalities. The book fails to be a very interesting read or even an adequate reference for those looking to outsource in China. I wouldn't recommend this book.Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT (Information Technology) Outsourcing Overview

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Dancing With Giants: China, India, And the Global Economy Review

Dancing With Giants: China, India, And the Global Economy
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Dancing With Giants: China, India, And the Global Economy ReviewThis is a report by the World bank (and a think tank) to study the impact of the growth of China and India on other countries in the World.
Provides a good insight into the China and India story:
(a) Sorry, China and India are not Giants. Though they house 38% of world population they account for 6.4% of World GDP (yes, purchasing power parity is not useful in evaluating your impact on other countries since size of trade and exchange rates are more important than price levels).
(b) Sorry, this will not change even after sustained growth in the next decade. India would grow from being 1.7% of World economy to 2.4% in 2020 (okay, 3.2% if you are optimistic). China would grow from 4.7% now to 7.9%.
(c) Sorry, India is not a dominant player in providing services to the world. India's export of services is just 1.8% of global trade in services.
(d) Sorry, IT just accounts for 6% of India's service revenue. Nope, it is a myth to believe growth in IT sector would transform Indian economy. It did not. It may not.
(e) Nope, energy economists don't need to worry. India accounts for just 3.4% of global oil usage. In the next ten years any hike in oil price is more likely to come from supply side hitches than from increased demand for oil in India or China.
(f) Nope, US current account deficit is not due to China's import barriers or an undervalued currency. US is just not saving enough.
(g) Nope, China and India are not competing head on for their products. The top 25 exports of China and India have only one product in common! (Yes sire, refined petroleum).
(h) Nope, Dhirubhai Ambani alone is not enough to reform our textiles industry. Our textile exports is $ 10 billion a year. Wal Mart alone buys $ 18 billion textiles from China. Did you know one major impediment is the delivery time from India to US? Yes, 24 days!
(In passing, the economists say that the movie industry in India is not known to produce world class movies; though one did come recently: "Bend it like Beckham"! Apologies Mani Ratnam, economists do not know as much about movies as about GDP!)
Have we handled our economy well? We made some mistakes in the way we managed our economy.
(a) We started with one major disadvantage. Inequality.
(b) Economic growth is rarely balanced. It often results in enhancing inequality.
(c) There are good inequalities (differences in income and wealth because some earned more than others) and bad inequalities (lack of access to education or credit to pursue an economic activity). Good inequalities are necessary to maintain incentive for growth. Bad inequalities prevent people from escaping poverty.
(d) We got our philosophies mixed up. Instead of attempting to eliminate bad inequalities by providing access to opportunities for the poor, we went after good inequalities by suppressing incentive for economic growth.
(e) We restrained firms from freely pursuing economic activity (by reserving several activities for the State or for small enterprises and by introducing a license raj that required government permission to start or expand a business).
(f) We prevented efficient allocation of resources (by protective trade policy that perpetuated advantage to existing players, by a directional tax policy, by state control of all funding and by restrictive labor laws).
(g) On the other hand, we did not provide access to education or market driven micro finance delivery to the poor to acquire human capital to escape poverty.
(h) End result: We did not grow enough; but the inequality went up. The poor did not benefit from economic growth at all.
(i) Since our political system depended on popular support, political administrations "blamed" a variety of targets (businessmen, upper caste, land holders, foreign hands) for the failure to eradicate poverty and used the resultant "popular anger" to consolidate their power base.
(j) Thank God we had a crisis in 1991. Debt service rose to 21% of receipts. Interest burden rose to 20% of expenditure. We ran out of spendable currency. No one was willing to lend.
(k) Prime Minister Narasimha Rao went beyond curing the immediate disease. Rao government cut back industries reserved for State; removed licensing requirements; devalued rupee; allowed current account convertibility; removed quotas and reduced tariffs; and lifted restrictions on foreign investment.
(l) Fortunately the reform process, despite vigorous debate, has developed sufficient consensus to stay on track in succeeding administrations.
(m) We have some more miles to go:
(1) We need to provide access to education and credit to facilitate people escape poverty. Spending money on rural infrastructure alone will not kill "bad inequality". If this is not done, India would continue to be a miracle of "jobless growth" and political consensus for reform would evaporate diluting growth prospects. Equality is not just a nice thing to do; it is essential for going after growth.
(2) We need to get "government" out of "business" even more. Subsidies will have to reduce. Buredensome state enterprises cannot be funded by public expenditure. Bad loans in banks will have to reduce. Regulatory rigidity in labor market will have to reduce.
(3) We need to step up "governance". We need to step up government effectiveness and bureaucracy quality.
(4) We need to manage our "balance sheet" well. We cannot be an economy whose liabilities are in "high cost equity" (FDI and portfolio investments) and whose assets are in "low yield reserves". This asymmetry is expensive.
China has one advantage over us. An early start. China has built a strong manufacturing base with an eye on the global market (40% of its GDP is from exports vs 15% for us). However, in the end, China has one disadvantage. In China the State is determining who will pursue economic activity and who will not by its "hukou" system (license to live in special zones) and "TVE system" (town and village enterprise owned by local governments with limited authority to retain and reinvest super profits). This was useful in creating "private firms" in a socialist economy.
However, this past success is going to be a millstone for China in the future. A very large population got left out in the growth process (though inequality is not as sharp as in India because the inequality in landholding prevented growth in agriculture from reducing inequality in India). Building political consensus to the reform process is going to be even toughter in China when the ability of the government to maintain control over the population reduces. This may hamper growth.
India has a higher chance of sustaining and growing political consensus for reforms because it has developed mechanisms to let differing voices debate vigorously before building consensus. The pace is slow but the traction is firm.
It is nice to think that Left leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, with their wisdom and ability to disagree, may help India build the consensus on a firmer track and perform better than China!
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Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of Global Jihad Review

Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of Global Jihad
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Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of Global Jihad ReviewThis book is a very careful analysis of U.S.-Pakistani relations, especially over the last forty years. More importantly perhaps it provides the clearest explanation to date of why Pakistan appears to be so ambivalent towards Islamic extremism as manifested in what Riedel identifies as the "Global Jihad" and the Afghan Taliban movement. Indeed he does a brilliant job of guiding the reader through complexities of Pakistani politics and strategy. He makes clear that Pakistan regards India as an existential threat and treats both the Taliban and al Qaeda as pawns in its deadly game against India.
He does a particularly brilliant job describing the drivers of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate in relation to Islamic extremism, Pakistani internal politics, and Afghanistan. The ISI has a very complex agenda, which the U.S. has not always understood, but which always sees India as an overarching enemy.
As a genuine South Asia expert with close to forty years experience, Riedel is especially competent at putting the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in a regional context. This makes the problems of that troubled country much easier to understand. He builds a pretty convincing case that Pakistani co-operation and constructive involvement is vital to turning Afghanistan into a peaceful, viable nation state. He also identifies Iranian interests in Afghanistan that must be factored into this goal.
Riedel is the model of a professional analyst and for this reason the bulk of this book is descriptive not proscriptive. In his final chapters however he does offer some well informed suggestions on transforming Pakistan into a force for stability in South Asia. He also speculates on the appalling idea of Pakistan turning into an Islamic Fundamentalist State and supporter of the Global Jihad against the U.S. and West in general. This perhaps more than even Afghanistan is why the U.S. must be willing to develop a consistent and effective Pakistani Policy.
Riedel, who spent thirty years as an analyst at CIA also offers up a very good suggestion for the Director of National Intelligence (DNI): the DNI should prepare a quarterly all-source report on Pakistan and its role in counter-terrorism (positive or negative). This suggestion makes a good deal of sense and General Clapper (USAF ret.) would do well initiate such an effort. As Riedel points out the DNI is in the best position to asses Pakistan's behavior and actions. Such a reporting program should inform U.S. policy formulations towards Pakistan.
One final note: Riedel now retired from CIA, notes up front that he is a supporter of President Obama and worked as the campaigns South Asia lead analysts. His political preferences do not alter the validity of descriptions and prescriptions for South Asia. He is first and foremost a professional analyst who has served four presidents loyally and well regardless of party.
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Getting China and India Right: Strategies for Leveraging the World's Fastest Growing Economies for Global Advantage Review

Getting China and India Right: Strategies for Leveraging the World's Fastest Growing Economies for Global Advantage
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Getting China and India Right: Strategies for Leveraging the World's Fastest Growing Economies for Global Advantage ReviewGetting China and India Right is an authoritative and research-driven book essential to executives in global corporations, business academics and economists. Dr. Gupta and Ms. Wang have integrated vast amounts of quantitative and qualitative research to provide a valuable (and unique) perspective to anyone currently doing business or aspiring to win on the global playing field -- which should be ANY company with global or multinational presence. I have already referred the book to several clients and CXOs wrestling with the complexity of leveraging the capabilities of these countries and tapping into the mega-markets represented by their populations. The response I have received has been only positive.
The book is organized in a logical manner which allows readers to take individual chapters of interest and dig right in or take a comprehensive perspective reading through front to back. Loaded with rich data, case studies and interview findings, Getting China and India Right shakes some myths many executives I have worked with have long held (e.g. its either China OR India, or its only about cost-saving). It compels executives to reexamine their current approaches and mental models about global competition much like Porter did with Competitive Strategy or Competitive Advantage of Nations. So, while it certainly shakes executives who are not "Getting it Right" but does not leave them paralyzed with just high level, inactionable concepts. It provides highly tangible strategic recommendations along with specific approaches to building the capabilities needed to win and detailed questions organizations need to answer.
Our firm has utilized many of Dr Gupta's recommendations and approaches in supporting clients wrestling with these difficult issues. Many other books on China or India gloss over the complexity of each country or inherent strategic challenges, leaving readers with no clear perspectives on what they can specifically do to realign strategies. Other books also tackle each country as an individual case when in fact, as Gupta and Wang clearly demonstrate, one must look at BOTH countries on an integrated basis as part of a global network of strategic capabilities. This insight in and of itself makes this a MUST READ as it changes everything in how companies view the competitive opportunity/threat. Other insights on how to sell into these mega markets, win talent wars, or compete against domestic companies further arm companies to win.
The book was an easy read, written in a direct, authoritative and user-friendly manner. This likely stems from both Dr Gupta and Ms Wang's style (I have seen them speak to large organizations) and they are excellent speakers, approachable, confident and engaging.High marks to Getting China and India Right as these countries are the critical battlegrounds for the next 20 years and Gupta/Wang provide executives essential firepower to win.Getting China and India Right: Strategies for Leveraging the World's Fastest Growing Economies for Global Advantage Overview

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To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India Review

To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India
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To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India Review(This review is based on the Penguin India edition).
To read To Uphold the World is to read several books at once. Presented as "a call for a new global ethic", To Uphold the World is a timely critique of the instrumental rationality of our time that has produced a globally networked self-destructive culture of consumption. At the same time it is a narrative of travel, a contemplation of the phenomenon of travel, a biography of the great King Ashoka, who Rich discovered while traveling when he came upon his monumental inscriptions, and then of his councilor Kautilya, and a philosophical treatise on ethics. Ultimately, To Uphold the World is a meditation on leadership and its importance in a world of collective self-deception.
It is a tribute to the importance of this book that it is published by Beacon Press, the publisher of Herbert Marcuse's magisterial One Dimensional Man. Rich extends and updates Marcuse's critique of the authoritarian ritualization of meaning that closes the "universe of discourse." Rich observes that "the penetration of market, transactional relationships has become so pervasive in Western society, and particularly in the Anglo-American world, that family and personal relations are increasingly atomized and replaced by market-derived transactional interactions." Past and future fade in our networked world of instantaneous communication; we have become a culture of the "eternally ephemeral".
Arguing that the modern world has exchanged traditional forms of social authority and identity for a highly structured global consumer economy, and now finds itself teetering on the brink of catabolic collapse, Rich suggests that mankind is left bereft of guidance on how to transit to a more resilient, sustainable and free state.
He turns to the past for lessons, because "the past provides us with a store of human experience that can be truly subversive of the present." The core of the book is the story of Ashoka the Great, the warrior emperor who unified India in the third century BC through a series of bloody campaigns, converted to Buddhism, and ruled benignly for about forty years, leaving behind a legacy of benevolent rule and respect for life, including arguably the earliest known bans on slavery and capital punishment, and the earliest environmental regulations and the protection of natural areas.
Although the story of Ashoka is, if not well known, not particularly obscure, Rich identifies a significant and underappreciated aspect; behind the visionary Ashoka stood his administrator Kautilya, author of the Artha''stra, the first known treatise on statecraft and economic policy. Kautilya was a materialist, master of realpolitik, and the fisted glove behind Ashoka's vision. "The critical issue is not the desirability of Ashoka's principles, which at a certain level of generality is easy to acknowledge. How to put these principles into practice in a society, and Ashoka's success and failure in doing so, is the deeper issue.... The greatness of Ashoka likes not only in his conversion ... following [the bloody battle of] Kalinga, but in his heroic effort to reconcile the underlying, tragic tensions between the dharma of the king and warrior, which prioritizes force and violence, ... the revolutionary materialism of Kautilya and his espousal of [it] in statecraft; and a universal dharma of non-violence." Ashoka and Kautilya represent the unity of universal ethical values and pragmatism. Perhaps it is this loss of unity that explains why, in today's world, progressives can't progress and conservatives can't conserve.
Rich concludes that we live on the cusp of a second "Axial Age" where "the old Gods are dead and what will replace them is still being born". He looks to religious tradition and a growing ecological consciousness as sources for an "emerging sense of the transcendent". The emergent culture will require both Ashoka and Kautilya in order to put principles into practice. Indeed, in the future we are likely to get a full measure of Kautilya in view of the massive system disruptions from a runaway climate that humanity is likely to face due to our lack of resolve today; the challenge is to find the Ashoka of the twenty-first century who can articulate the vision we need of a more resilient, sustainable mode of being.To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India Overview

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