India may never be a superpower : London school of economics

kickok1975

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I don't remember anyone calls ancient India or China as super power which they certainly were according to today's standard. The term "superpower" was created during cold war. It's an outdated term to describe a country.
China and India don't care so called "superpower" title. We are proud ancient civilizations that lasts thousands of years to date. We just want to continue our civilization and hopefully regain our rightful place on earth where half of world population wellbeing depends in these two countries.
 
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A chauhan

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India maybe a democracy but it is only a democracy on paper, or else she would have accomplished 10-20 times more than she actually has since independence. I have written several messages right here explaining why India is not a true democracy, so I'm not going to repeat them again. Many here bank on India to be the next great power based on 2 assumptions: 1. India's exploding population 2. Indian's supposed superior smart. But unfortunately both are false. India's growing population is more a burden than an asset. The world only needs a finite number of workers to sustain the worldwide civilization and this number probablyhas already been reached. China, despite of being called the factory of the world, only employs1/10th of the population in the manufacturing sector, and the agricultural sector, which probaby only needs no more than 50 million farmers, still employs some 3-400 million under-employed people. If a lot of people is a good thing, then Africa where population grows fastest, should be accorded the stutus as next super power, but we all know that's none-sense.
And Indians are certainly not as smart as many here believe. Now even if we ignore those IQ studies, an average indian is certainly not any smarter than an average person worldwide. And in terms of discipline and organizational skills Indians are below average at best.
For India to become any power (read as a rich and advanced society), India needs to shed 80-90%of her population which is not possible in this century.
Indian culture does not support expansionism or superpower status, they just love to live safe and simply with satisfaction. If you ask any Indian that whether he want to see India as a superpower ? he will say yes as positive expectation, but if you ask him seriously, he will say yes "if possible !" there is no ambition in a common Indian's mind to become a superpower. We just work to earn livings and not for superpower status, we don't want to compete with US.

Many here bank on India to be the next great power based on 2 assumptions: 1. India's exploding population 2. Indian's supposed superior smart.
Wrong ! lol ! your logic is not valid, exploding population can't make any country a superpower, and your second point is 'your own fear' that Indians are smart, fear causes anxiety, frustration then finally anger, you seem to be anxious now, last two stages are due for you.I doubt your IQ !

And Indians are certainly not as smart as many here believe. Now even if we ignore those IQ studies, an average indian is certainly not any smarter than an average person worldwide. And in terms of discipline and organizational skills Indians are below average at best.
This is height of ignorance !! you forgot some very very important inventions by Indians like "decimal and zero", however leave it. Yet we are not fool to make an idiotic wall to defend our country. Forget Indian's IQ , see your own IQ.

India maybe a democracy but it is only a democracy on paper, or else she would have accomplished 10-20 times more than she actually has since independence.
India is a democracy, though corruption and dirty politics have plagued her ! but communists can't understand it.If there were no corruption and politics then we may have developed two-three times more than now.

Yes it's not easy to become a superpower but being a big democratic state we are bound to be, but as long as we live happy life who cares to be a superpower ? India and China both share a a glorious past, yet India has suffered a lot due to Islamic invasion and British rule, but some day these two countries are going to be a game changer in world politics.

I don't remember anyone calls ancient India or China as super power which they certainly were according to today's standard. The term "superpower" was created during cold war. It's an outdated term to describe a country.
China and India don't care so called "superpower" title. We are proud ancient civilizations that lasts thousands of years to date. We just want to continue our civilization and hopefully regain our rightful place on earth where half of world population wellbeing depends in these two countries.
I Completely agree with kickok1975 !
 

Rahul92

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Common guys who need these ranks our country will be a superpower only when all its population gets 3 times meal every one has a roof to live and proper clothing and he gets his work done by govt officers without bribing them
 

agentperry

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many times i have said that India will become what france is today. it will be having a good repo and say in world matters but wont be at the top.
 

trackwhack

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I really dont give a shit if India becomes a superpower or not in terms of per capita incomes and lifestyles, considering our population, thats impossible. The only thing I care about is that we have the largest budget in the world by 2040. That we have the largest spending power in the world. When that day comes, no one can fck with us.

Per capita parity to the west in terms of income and lifestyle can only happen only 2 to 3 decades after our population stabilizes and replacement rate becomes 1. So we are looking at 2050 - 2060 before that happens and thats too far away.
 

trackwhack

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EF-2000 rejection is hard to swallow..
They try to keep themselves relevant through shit like this. After all LSE has a big Indian student and alumni base. A source of income. Also its nice when other start discussing about subjects like this. It shows we have arrived. It also shows that they are becoming more and more irrelevant.
 

rock127

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Despite India's "impressive" rise, its ambition to be a super power may remain just that—an ambition, according to an authoritative new study by the London School of Economics to which several Indian scholars have contributed.

It pointedly dismisses what it calls the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "unequivocal verdict" during her India visit in 2009 that "India is not just a regional power, but a global power'.

The study, India: the Next Superpower? acknowledges India's "formidable achievements" in fostering democracy, growth and cultural dynamism but concludes that these are nullified by its structural weaknesses, widespread corruption, poor leadership, extreme social divisions, religious extremism and internal security threats.

India, it argues, still faces too many "developmental challenges" to qualify for "super power" status, or to be considered a serious "counterweight" to China, a role sought to be thrust on it by some in the West. Some of the report's authors wonder whether India should even aspire to be a super power given its institutional weaknesses and social and economic divisions.

Historian Ramachandra Guha, currently the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE, suggests that rather than being seduced by the bright lights of great power diplomacy, India should instead focus on reforming its institutions and repairing the social fabric that seems to be coming off its seams.

"We need to repair, one by one, the institutions that have safeguarded our unity amidst diversity, and to forge the new institutions that can help us. It will be hard, patient, slow work," he writes.

The study, a summary of which was released on Wednesday, starts off by acknowledging that" India's rise has certainly been impressive, and warrants the attention that it has commanded".

"India has been one of the world's best-performing economies for a quarter of a century, lifting millions out of poverty and becoming the world's third-largest economy in PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) terms. India has tripled its defence expenditure over the last decade to become one of the top-ten military spenders. And in stark contrast to Asia's other billion-person emerging power, India has simultaneously cultivated an attractive global image of social and cultural dynamism," it says. But then come the "ifs" and "buts".

Plunging the knife into Indian ambitions, the report says:"Still, for all India's success, its undoubted importance and despite its undisputed potential, there is cause for caution in assessing India's claim to superpower status. India still faces major developmental challenges. The still-entrenched divisions of caste structure are being compounded by the emergence of new inequalities of wealth stemming from India's economic success. India's democracy may have thrived in a manner that few ever expected, but its institutions face profound challenges from embedded nepotism and corruption. India's economic success continues to come with an environmental cost that is unsustainable."

These problems are compounded by India's "pressing security preoccupations" arising out of "insurgent violence" affecting large parts of the country and long-festering cross-border disputes.

The best that India can hope for—the study offers as a consolation-- is "to continue to play a constructive international role in, among other things, the financial diplomacy of the G20".

"Yet the hopes of those in the West who would build up India as a democratic counterweight to Chinese superpower are unlikely to be realised anytime soon," it concludes.

The report forms part of LSE IDEAS' series on "Power Shifts". Authors include Mukulike Bannerjee and D. Rajeev Sibal (both LSE) and Sandeep Sengupta, a doctoral candidate in International Relations at Oxford University.


The Hindu : News / International : India may never be a super power: LSE study
If being a superpower means illigally occupying/attacking small countries and amassing troops everywhere, exploitation and creating enemity between 2 neighbour countries then India would not become a superpower as Indians are not programmed genetically for that as history suggests and should not think of becoming even if it can.
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India better become self reliant and eradicate poverty/corruption and improve their standard and militarily strong enough to have it's territory defended without being a part of "ally" of any group of countries.
 

pankaj nema

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All you need is TECHNOLOGICAL strength

A super power is a country which can MAKE things which others cannot such as USA Germany Japan France
and Russia

China is just an economic power ; atleast till now
 

pmaitra

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What defines a superpower?

Take the former USSR for example. They made some of the best submarines, but not the most luxurious cars. It was part of their doctrine. Neither was their fashion industry particularly famous.

Take the US today, for example. Even though it is a superpower, most Americans would rather buy a Honda than a Chevrolet. The US is still a very inefficient user of energy and lags behind even many 3rd world countries in public transport.

There are many countries, especially the Scandinavian countries that are doing a pretty good job in matters other than defense. Be it education, mining, fishing, public transport, power, manufacturing. There is a general sense of honesty in some of these countries. Perhaps in smaller countries it is not easy to get away with wrong doings?

Keeping rhetoric and jingoism apart, India would already have been an Asian superpower 10 years ago had it not been for corruption. As long as people get away with blocking railway tracks and stopping traffic, as long as people get away with refusing to accept bank cheques for rent and insisting on cash, as long as people get away with less stringent tests than others for money while getting their driver's license, I am sorry, I would not expect India to become a superpower.
 

Godless-Kafir

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Sadly this report may be more pragmatic than we expect it to be. The truth of the matter is Democracy has failed India, period. The democracies of the world also have taken their business to a communist state rather than bring business here. The idiotic leadership of India has left a good opportunity pass.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Take the former USSR for example. They made some of the best submarines, but not the most luxurious cars. It was part of their doctrine.
An old story from former USSR:

In the Soviet Union there were two subsistence farmers, Ivan and Mikhail, both equally poor. Then one day, Ivan somehow acquires a cow. His life immediately improves. Instead of the wife, the cow pulls the plow; the cow gives milk; it produces calves for meat and the market. Quickly, Ivan far outpaces Mikhail.

One night, starving and miserable, Mikhail drops to his knees and prays. "Oh, God," he implores, "Ivan and I were always equal. And now look at him — rich, like boyar. So God, please, make us equal once more." There's a sudden thunderclap and suddenly Mikhail hears the Voice of God. "Your prayers will be answered," says the Lord. "You shall once more be equal again."

Mikhail practically screams with joy. "Great!" he exclaims. "You're going to kill Ivan's cow!"
 

trackwhack

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Sadly this report may be more pragmatic than we expect it to be. The truth of the matter is Democracy has failed India, period. The democracies of the world also have taken their business to a communist state rather than bring business here. The idiotic leadership of India has left a good opportunity pass.
Would you rather live in China? Someone as outspoken as you would not see his 15th birthday.
 

civfanatic

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It is better for India if we do not become a superpower in the U.S. mold. All I want is for India to regain the respect of the world as well as of its own citizens; I look forward to the day when every Indian, regardless of where he/she may be in the world, can proudly proclaim his/her Indian nationality and identity, and I look forward to the day that "India" once again becomes a by-word for enlightenment and prosperity.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Take the former USSR for example. They made some of the best submarines, but not the most luxurious cars. It was part of their doctrine. Neither was their fashion industry particularly famous.
 
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Yusuf

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India will not become a super power till it aspires to be one. That aspiration may be among us on the forum and young guns outside, it is completely lacking in the previous two generations and those are the two kinds of people who are ruling us today.

Regardless of which party is in power, though we have been making noises about being "great" there is no clear policy, no aim and objectives set to become great. Coalition politics as pointed out is a big bane in the Indian governance today. With everyone wanting to extract their pound of flesh and having their own individual vote banks to cater to, policy making takes a back seat.

Unfortunately what I see is that the current generation of politician are also getting sucked into the old mindset of vote bank politics which narrows their vision to just being their for power and any means of it than having tr larger national goal of development and achievement of super power or even a global power.

The challenge is certainly there to get to the top but it is all in our hands.
 

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