Rivals: How the Power Struggle between China, India and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade.

AuthorLee, Cynthia
PositionBook review

RIVALS: HOW THE POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN CHINA, INDIA AND JAPAN WILL SHAPE OUR NEXT DECADE

Bill Emmott

(Orlando, Florida: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2008), 352 pages.

In this work, former Economist editor Bill Emmott sees economics as the driving force in the Asian region, creating economic giants whose futures offer both the potential for integration and for devastating great power competition. Emmott explores not only what China, India and Japan must pursue to maintain or achieve powerful economies, but also the implications of their projected futures for the broader Asian region.

Emmott suggests that all three countries are beset by underlying internal problems, the resolution of which will determine the accuracy of current economic forecasts. In China, a focus on monetary policy is needed to prevent a financial bubble that could jeopardize the regime's shaky legitimacy. In India, policies such as simplified regulations and better job opportunities must be implemented to reduce the chaos of business transactions and to curb inequality-driven insurgencies, which have been identified by the government as India's top internal threat. Meanwhile, if the Japanese government is to overcome twenty years of economic stagnation, it should embrace more forceful reforms, including stronger incentives and new competition.

Emmott's attention to the current domestic ills of each country provides the foundation for his constructivist outlook on foreign policy. He...

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