Three Days in November
The 26 November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, often referred to as 26/11, had an effect on India similar to the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York seven years earlier. On the 10th anniversary of the attack, it seems…
Diplomat, Dissident, Spook
WRITING IN THE TORONTO STAR many years ago, James Eayrs, the then-celebrated University of Toronto political scientist, described the induction ritual for newly minted Foreign Service Officers with his usual provocative flourish. Probationary officers, he wrote, were led to a chamber in…
Re-imagining Capitalism
Mumbai is a late night town. Typically, Bollywood does not start work until late in the afternoon. Business dinners start at 10 p.m. Visiting Canadian ministers are often not received at Varsha, the chief minister’s official guest house, until even later.
Makers of Modern Asia
ASIA’S SEEMINGLY INEXORABLE rise has, to a considerable extent, been the story of its economic transformation. In Makers of Modern Asia, editor Ramachandra Guha argues that political factors were the necessary conditions for this emergence. He gathers leading historians and political analysts…
The Indian Ideology
The Indian Ideology is a slim volume by Perry Anderson, the eminent British neo- Marxist historian. It caused a firestorm in academe when first published (as three essays in the London Review of Books). Collected and published in 2014 by Verso, it…
India: The End of a Dynasty?
Note de la rédaction : Dans un monde où la démocratie semble de plus en plus vulnérable, il est d’autant plus important de comprendre son évolution dans la plus populeuse des démocraties, l’Inde. La récente élection en Inde a posé deux énigmes…
Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan’s Next Chapter
On September 12th Ahmed Rashid spoke to a well-attended and open gathering at CIPS (the Centre for International Policy Studies) at the University of Ottawa (sponsored by CIPS and the Fragile States Research Network). His topic was characteristically sweeping: “Pakistan’s Next Chapter”.
David Malone on India: Excerpts and Interview
From the introduction to Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy, by David Malone, Oxford University Press, 2011, 448 pp., $ 45.00.
South Asian Trilogy: Personal Perspectives on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
Canada’s death toll in Afghanistan stood at 157 at the time of writing. It is a sobering figure. The withdrawal of Canadian troops from Kandahar represented a milestone in our engagement with South Asia, but have we reflected on what was actually…
Bill Warden
The aged Warden VW camper was full of kids and assorted pets when it was overtaken by a police cruiser. Bill stopped, opened his window and the policeman said “Did you know that you were travelling at 100 km per hour in…
