Global PersPectives
family and was elected on his managerial rec
ord of economic success in an Indian state.
India is widely viewed as a “rising power”—
an emerging power like the other members
of the so called BRICS countries (Brazil, Rus
sia, India, China, South Africa). These states
have the power potential, the tangible power,
and the intangible resources to be emergent
powers and perhaps great powers. To be sure,
the specific attributes of each differ. For India,
that label was given because key sectors of
the Indian economy are leading economic
growth and are competitive at the global
level. The computer ser vices and information
technology sectors are major global players
in back office outsourcing, used by major mul
tinational corporations, international banks,
and growing e commerce companies. Indian
growth rates have verged on 7.5 percent
annually, though more normally they have
been around 5 percent. Cell phones have
penetrated the markets, giving 900 million
people access to modern technology. Banga
lore has become second only to Silicon Valley,
California, for the high tech industry, peopled
by a growing middle class. India is also con
nected to an extraordinary diaspora that links
it to many states and economies and influ
ences India’s global outlook.India has unsurpassed power potential— a
population of 1.3 billion people, with a young
workforce; a large landmass protected by the
Himalayan mountains and Indian Ocean; a
major lane of commerce connecting the sub
continent to both Africa and South East Asia;
and diverse natu ral resources, including the
world’s fourth largest deposits of coal and
substantial deposits of iron ore, manga
nese, bauxite, and natu ral gas. Until recently,
India’s tangible sources of power lagged—
industrialization was generally small scale; its
level of infrastructure, with the exception of
the railways, awful; its economy between the
1950s and 1980s strug gled under socialist
policies. At the same time, India’s intangible
power sources are the sophisticated intel
lectual and philosophical traditions which
underpin its soft power, displayed in lit er a ture,
academia, and movies.
India’s democracy is anchored by a lively
free press, an increasingly strong federal sys
tem able to accommodate diversity, and a his
tory of strong leaders. The election of Narendra
Modi in 2014 was path breaking, marking the
first time that the governing Bharatiya Janata
Party could govern without building co ali
tions. And Modi, himself, represented the new
democrat—he was not tied to any prominent
India, a civilization thousands of years old, is a relatively young state. Established in
1947 following in de pen dence from Great Britain and partition from Pakistan, India is
a state with many nations. With 22 official languages and 60 other spoken languages, it
is home to Hindus, one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, as well as Chris-
tians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, among others. This diverse population, which histori-
cally was never united under a centralized government, poses unique opportunities and
challenges in the twenty- first century.