Europe and Asia are each undergoing major change. That is a statement of the obvious, as is the fact that comparing their development is difficult. The great strength of this study of the relationships between Europe and Asia is that it is approached with a fine measure of detachment. The point is made clearly in the introduction, which refers to the absence of undisputed definitions of what emerging Asia and Europe comprise as regional. In addition to the introduction, there are twelve chapters, dealing with different aspects of the subject.
Each chapter follows a pattern, with different headed sections, and a conclusion, which makes comparison much easier — and which reflects the professional skill of the editors.
The two editors bring great knowledge and experience to their task. Krishnan Srinivasan is a former Indian foreign secretary, and a former deputy secretary-general of the Commonwealth, with a distinguished academic record. Fredrik Erixon is director and co-founder of the European Centre for International Political Economy at Brussels, and has worked as adviser to the British government, and at the office of the Swedish prime minister, and in the World Bank.
Though recognising that relationships between Europe and emerging Asia are important, the editors quickly draw attention to the fact that the lack of a common position in the European Union make it, inevitably, a light weight political player. In his own chapter (Europe and India) Krishnan Srinivasan lists India’s many strengths — for example its diversity of human talent, originality, and spirituality, the fact that it has the best demographics of any large economy and the fact that it has the world’s largest student numbers. After referring to the country’s entrepreneurial energy, and the huge size of its electorate, the author makes the shrewd comment that ‘to stay stable and peaceful, India has perforce to be a muddle and a mess, and it has evolved a brand of governance in its own chaotic image.’
In his chapter (Whither Asia-Europe Trade Relations and Political Cooperation?), Erixon argues that Europe has no real influence on Asia’s political direction, being neither an inspiration nor an irritation. He makes the point that ‘It is not much different the other way around either, and Asia or individual Asian governments do not command much influence in Europe’. He discusses trade relations that have stalled between the European Union (EU) and Asian governments, and makes the point that the problems are far more about institutions and regulations than about tariffs.
Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a research fellow in the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, and a former Bangladeshi ambassador, and foreign minister, contributes a chapter on Europe and South Asia. He makes the interesting point that Pakistan remained a dominion of the U.K. until 1956, six years longer than India. He comments that in Europe there is an understanding that Pakistan will have a key role in restoring calm in Afghanistan, and that ‘a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan is good for the region and the world’. Hence the EU policy to support Pakistan’s economy and buttress its development efforts.
Chowdhury also notes that Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh are in the United Nations’ list of least developed countries, and therefore receive EU trade preferential treatment. Nevertheless, faced with its own problems, the EU is seen as a lightweight political player.
Another contributor is James Mayall, emeritus professor of International Relations at Cambridge, a member of the editorial board of The Round Table and chairman of the advisory board of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at London University. He writes with frank criticism of Britain’s role in the European Union, and its generally inward-looking policy, arising from the effects of the influence of UKIP (the U.K. Independence Party) on a currently high British anti-immigrant sentiment — which he describes as an unsavoury reality which the mainstream parties have to face. He points out that ‘this means that notwithstanding the economic case for prioritising foreign policy in general and the country’s relations with emerging Asia in particular, the focus of political attention and debate is even more inward-looking than usual’.
James Mayall notes that both British Conservative and Labour parties clung tenaciously to two unrealistic beliefs: ‘that the Commonwealth…would secure Britain’s continued right to a seat at the top table of world powers, and that it could provide the economic framework for Britain’s post-war recovery and future prosperity’. He points out, however, that ‘with a membership drawn from all five continents, it does represent a valuable resource of well-established intergovernmental and non-governmental networks’. In discussing Britain’s complicated relations with India, Professor Mayall notes that as the responsible power at the time of partition, British governments have ‘always sought to pursue an even-handed policy towards the two (later three) successor states to the British Raj’. He comments that, inevitably, this has pleased neither India nor Pakistan.
It is worth looking also at the chapter ‘Central Europe, the European Union, and Emerging Asia’, contributed by Agnieszka Kuszewska, assistant professor of political science at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities at Warsaw. She discusses differing attitudes within Europe, and makes the point that the minimal contribution made by Central and Eastern Europe to shaping the EU’s Asian policy has to be upgraded — though this might be a long, drawn out process. ‘Without it, the EU-Asia region-to-region strategy will continue to be totally imbalanced in favour of the West European EU member-states and consequently will not reflect the entirety of the EU’ — and will convey the impression of EU disunity to the Asian emerging countries.
I shall end this review by returning to the Introduction. Here the point is made that ‘the EU by its very existence has added to the strengths of its individual members’. The editors pursue this point with the comment ‘the future political, economic, social, and cultural running will be made by the EU members acting for the most part in their individsual capacities. The overall picture from the Brussels viewpoint is therefore less clear-cut than the federal enthusiasts would have us believe’. Current European problems, notably those resulting from the flood of immigrants reaching Italy and Greece, inevitably have an adverse effect on the idea of a united Europe. Interestingly, the editors note that nevertheless ‘all emerging Asian states view the EU favourably… even if they are at times critical of EU policies’. This is a good example of the balanced detachment which the editors have achieved throughout this book.
Europe in Emerging Asia: Opportunities and Obstacles in Political and Economic Encounters; Ed Fredrik Erixon and Krishnan Srinivasan, Rowman & Littlefield International Ltd, price not mentioned
Published - September 05, 2015 04:40 pm IST
