Between India and China : An Ancient Dialectic for Contemporary World Politics

Explores the ancient relationship between India and China to conceptualise a ‘third space’ wherein we can discover how their emergence might benefit, rather than threaten, international society.

China and India are emerging in terms of their economics, demographics and military forces. This has caused speculations to abound around how these two giants of Asia can get along, affecting not just the region but the world at large. The book develops a “Silk Road Ethos” perspective, which examines the notion of ‘difference without alienation’ in order to create a third space of “China-India” wherein learning, circulation and co-constitution produces rich, complex, and cosmopolitan legacies. The book uses these new concepts to examine how the exchange of trade, commerce and cultural products, and to explore how the role of military and security practices, can be interrogated to better understand the relationships between India and China. It shows where, how, and why the complementaries between these nations can defuse, if not transform, the conflicts, contradictions, and challenges that currently beset each.