Lord Professor Meghnad Desai's public lecture well attended

Lord Meghnad Desai, Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, recently presented a public lecture on the theme “Will China or India dominate the Asia Pacific in the 21st century?”

The lecture explored, in a comparative analysis, the influence of economic, social and institutional policies on the speed and effectiveness of economic growth in the two economic super-powers, China and India.

Lord Desai argued that differences in nationalism, social justice, economic policies and political systems have all contributed to the very different growth experiences of the two countries over the last two decades, and that these noneconomic factors will continue to influence the patterns of growth differently in the decades to come.

According to Lord Desai issues of social justice are likely to act as a significant constraint on the speed of development in India. In contrast, economic policies and the inability of the government to get prices right are issues of greater concern for China.

Lord Desai concluded that he did expect India to be an important and a strategic global player in 50 years time. He did not expect India to be a major “military” super-power, maintaining that being militarily powerful has never been a major ambition for the Indian state.

He said China is a major “military” super-power already; and that no other Asian country will have the ability to engage China sufficiently even in 50 years time.

Lord Desai envisages the emergence of a bi-polar world in the 21st century, with America and China as the two super-powers surrounded by a number of strategic regional powers.