THE DIALECTICAL STREAM

  Shivshankar Menon warns, “we are headed for a poorer, meaner, and smaller world." Globalisation is often described through metaphors like 'Global Village', 'Borderless world'. However, the real globalisation is much more complex than these metaphors suggest. The simplistic view is that globalisation is growing interconnectedness, which essentially results in compression of time and space. It is a multi-conceptual and multi-dimensional term with social, political, economic and cultural domains. It can also have many models like Pax Americana or Pax Sinica. The American model or Pax Americana is based on liberal international order. It has three components : ( a) Growth of institutions - World Bank, IMF, WTO (b) Democracy - spread of democratic values (c) Free trade - greater impetus to private sector. The Pax Sinica fashions itself as an alternative, a anti-thesis to the American model. Some features of Chinese model are : (a) Authoritarianism - to kee

  "Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world." - Napoleon Bonaparte, 1817 (While discussing China with Lord Armherst) In 2011, under President Obama, USA made a notable shift in its policy concerning Asia-Pacific. The 'Pivot to Asia', declared that an increased investment in economic and diplomatic efforts as well strengthening of alliance commitments with allies in the region - Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Phillipines was the most important task of American foreign policy in the coming decades. To understand what caused this sudden shift and awakening in the attitude of Washington, we need to have a look at some of the key historical events that shaped the way these two giants look at the world. United States of America - the land of manifest destiny. It is the most sought after piece of real estate in the world, albeit one that is not for taking. After the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, US became the sole pole in the unipolar world order. It s

  "Just as one bird does not make a flock, nor one day a season, so one action or a short time cannot make us happy." - Aristotle THE Horn of Africa, a region also known as the Somali peninsula lies on the crossroads of Red sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian sea. The region, once known for their notorious piracy activity on sea is now facing its worst draught in 40 years. A quick internet search will reveal some heart-shattering images of both people and animals lying dead on the ground and their bodies decaying under the open sky. The reason for their death - scarcity of two bare necessities required for survival i.e. food and water.  It is a real tragedy that the West, who also happen to be the self-acclaimed champions of human rights are ignorant as they continue to remain in bed with Ukraine and are seen to be making bold claims of standing up for human rights and against the tyranny of Russians. While the people in Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia are paying with their