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Begin New Search Political Geography India Content Type Journal Article Publishing Institution World Policy Institute

1. Unveiling Koovagam

Author:
Jeff Roy
Publication Date:
06-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
KOOVAGAM, India —In the middle of India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu is the hamlet of Koovagam —a spit of dry dust surrounded by two empty rice fields and crisscrossing dirt pathways that converge like veins into the heart of town. At the center is a temple —a modest structure adorned with statues of gods and goddesses, where incense sticks burn. Surrounding the temple are market stalls that, on a normal day, offer displays of spices, flour, and seasonal fruits and vegetables for the town's handful of residents. But, on the full moon of the Chithirai month of the Tamil calendar, generally late April or early May, flamboyant arrays of offerings, religious figurines, and refreshments fill the stalls for tens of thousands of townsmen, women, children, and Aravanis, or transgender pilgrims.
Political Geography:
India

2. From Disease to Pandemic

Author:
Amy Lieberman
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
MANGALSEN, Nepal—Most locals walk here, journeying hours or days to reach a smattering of tea shops and convenience stores or an ammonia-washed health clinic. Outsiders access the western Nepali district of Achham either by helicopter or the single road clinging precariously to the rocky corners of the Himalayan Mountains. People in Achham have no choice but to eat the little that sprouts from their stubborn land. Here, many know HIV only as "Bombay disease," a seemingly mysterious illness that began to weaken and kill in Achham when men started migrating to India for short-term, low-wage jobs more than a decade ago.
Political Geography:
India and Nepal

3. The Somali Question

Author:
Mwaura Samora
Publication Date:
09-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
NAIROBI—Throngs of traders haggle and jostle for goods along busy streets, constantly interrupted by the hooting of matatus, local public transport vehicles, and the shouting of pushcart drivers, known as mkokotenis. This neighborhood is no place for the squeamish. The matatus and the mkokotenis make their way through deep, water-filled potholes, splashing thick, dark liquid onto crowded sidewalks. Like the badly damaged roads, the sewage system in Nairobi's Eastleigh district was built by British colonists in the 1920s to service a few hundred working-class Africans and Indians, but now it must bear the waste of over 100,000 residents. Today raw sewage oozes out of thousands of household pipes that have ruptured after decades of neglect. The dark green sludge mixes with runoff in the streets to form a foul porridge of human excrement.
Political Geography:
Africa, India, Somalia, and Nairobi

4. A Torrent of Consequences

Author:
Jacques Leslie
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
THIMPHU, Bhutan—If any nation deserves a waiver from the depredations of climate change, it is surely the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. A Maryland-sized postage stamp of a country, it is entirely surrounded by the world's two most populous nations, India and China, but resembles neither. Bhutan is the no-hunting, no-fishing, no-billboards, no-smoking, no-genetically-modified organisms, no-plastic-bags, no-stoplights, no-mountaineering exception to the world as we know it. The country is poor and seeks development, but only on its terms—not at the expense of its profoundly reverent but vulnerable Buddhist culture and its fragile, achingly beautiful mountain terrain.
Political Geography:
United States, China, India, Bhutan, and Thimphu

5. Faceoff: China/India

Author:
David A. Andelman
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
For the better part of three millennia, China and India have developed independently, intersecting only at the rarest of moments across a divide of some of the world's most forbidding geography. Today, they rank as the world's first and second most populous nations, but with political, social, and economic systems that place them sharply at odds. A centrally planned and managed nation controlled by a single political party has seen an economic explosion of activity and growth north of the Himalayas; to the south, a vibrant, if often cacophonous, multi-party democracy has broken out of its long lethargy to assume a leadership role in technology and innovation.
Political Geography:
China and India

6. The Big Question: Which Country Will Emerge as the Leading Power?

Author:
Rory Medcalf, James Nolt, Yanzhong Huang, Arvind Gupta, Gisa Dang, Steven Lewis, and Sophia Ling
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Two of the world's giants—the first and second most populous nations—share a single continent, but vastly different visions of their region and the world. China and India each have a legitimate claim to hegemony, to leadership, and to a shared or competitive future. We asked our panel of global experts which nation would emerge as Asia's leading power in the future.
Political Geography:
China, India, and Asia

7. India Through Chinese Eyes

Author:
Li Xin
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BEIJING—Between dawn and dusk, on the 18th floor of a glass-walled office tower in the north fourth ring road of Beijing, thousands of editors working for Sina, a portal that includes Sina Weibo's 500 million users, survey a myriad of news sources, snatching more than 10,000 items to display on its site. It is China's most popular news portal and largest aggregator. Its news section, with its vast audience, plays a major role in shaping the nation's media consumption.
Political Geography:
China and India

8. ANATOMY:Highway to Higher Education

Author:
Meehyun Nam- Thompson
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
The two leading universities in China and India, Peking University and India Institute of Technology-Bombay respectively, represent two vastly different approaches to education and life. Both require students to take highly competitive exams. Those who successfully pass the exams represent the choice minority. While Peking students are offered an array of subjects to study—more of the liberal arts variety—students at IIT-Bombay are immediately placed on a science and engineering track. However, the Peking students must pay a higher tuition for their broader choice of subjects. After graduation, Chinese students remain in the country, unlike Indian students who apply for work visas abroad at strikingly higher rates.
Political Geography:
China, India, and Mumbai

9. China Through Indian Eyes

Author:
Nazia Vasi
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
MUMBAI—Shaped by disparate political, economic, and social forces, and starkly divergent histories, China and India, though neighbors, have arrived at a point where their young people, as well as their leaders, have developed individual paths toward each other and the world. For a host of reasons, the two nations remain at odds 30 years after both economies and societies truly opened to global markets and outside influences.
Political Geography:
China and India

10. Timeline: 1959-Present

Author:
Meehyun Nam- Thompson
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
To understand the modern trajectory of Sino-Indian relations, World Policy Journal has focused on key political moments that have come to define the two countries' shared history. We begin at a pivotal moment—the Tibetan Uprising, a brief flare of conflict shortly before the Sino-Indian War, which many view as the sharpest geopolitical dispute between the two nations. Then we march through the 1960s and 1970s, when nuclear proliferation placed a heavy burden on a relationship otherwise improving under the twin pivots of regional security and financial imperatives. Our timeline shows a shift from direct military conflict to diplomatic and economic struggles for power. Though geopolitical issues, especially over critical resources like water and energy, will strain Sino-Indian relations in the future, we end our timeline with an uncertain, but promising economic trend, and new measures that may build confidence between Asia's two giants.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
China, India, and Asia

11. Myanmar: Choosing Sides

Author:
Megha Bahree
Publication Date:
01-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
NAYPYIDAW—In September 2007, India and China, Myanmar's two principal neighbors, stood by valiantly as the ruling junta brutally suppressed protests over increased fuel prices, led by pro-democracy groups and Buddhist monks. At least 13 were killed and thousands arrested. The nascent democratic transition that began in March 2011 has now placed Myanmar at the center of Southeast Asia's strategic landscape. Not surprisingly, India and China are stepping up their efforts to win deals—and influence—in the new capital, Naypyidaw, even as they face new competition from the Western world. But neither of the two Asian neighbors is particularly welcome here.
Political Geography:
China, India, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and Naypyidaw

12. Map Room: Borders on Top of the World

Author:
Mark Terry and Adam Scholl
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
PRINCE OF WALES STRAIT, Northwest Territories—A century ago, traversing the Northwest Passage was a grueling effort that often took years. Explorers frequently perished as their boats sunk or got trapped in the abundant pack ice. Today, these waters are mostly ice-free during the summer, and ships can sail through with ease.
Political Geography:
India, France, Italy, Island, and Greenland

13. The Big Question: What is the Most Pressing Health Crisis and How can it be Solved?

Author:
Devi Sridhar, Ernest C. Madu, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Adel Mahmoud, Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Guy Carrin, Benjamin Mason Meier, and Michael E. Gyasi
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
It is perhaps the single most elusive question today—how to manage and care for the billions of people who will fall ill this year, often terminally, in nations rich and poor? In so many cases the status of health is a purely financial question. Far too often poor health is simply a question of ignorance or the absence of drugs, medical facilities, clean water and a healthy environment. To help inform the debate, World Policy Journal asked a panel of experts to weigh in on what they see as the most pressing health crisis today and how it can be solved.
Topic:
Health
Political Geography:
India

14. Anatomy of a Pandemic Tuberculosis Today

Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Political Geography:
China, India, South Africa, Chile, and Swaziland

15. India on less than $30 a Year

Author:
Sandhya Srinivasan
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
MUMBAI, India—Shanta had a good life for a working class woman in Mumbai. Her husband Manoj was a watchman in a factory compound in a western suburb, and they lived in a room with running water, free electricity, even firewood for cooking. She commuted to work, an hour each way, into south Mumbai, where she cleaned three households. But in 2007, Manoj suffered a stroke, and though they went to a municipal hospital for treatment, they spent thousands of rupees (hundreds of dollars) on prescriptions. Shanta became the sole earner and they continued to spend on local healers. Then, Shanta was hospitalized for a severe bout of falciparum malaria (a virulent strain of the mosquitoborne disease, once limited to northeastern India, but now common in Mumbai). Recently, Manoj fell and broke a hip and required surgery, which cost $426 for subsidized treatment at a municipal hospital. To put that number in perspective, the monthly per capita income for 80 percent of the urban population is less than $42. In Shanta's case, the cost of her husband's hip surgery was four months' wages.
Topic:
Population
Political Geography:
India and Mumbai

16. The Forever War: Inside India's Maoist Conflict

Author:
Megha Bahree
Publication Date:
06-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
CHHATTISGARH STATE, India—It was 4 p.m. one March afternoon in 2008. The victims were living in a relief camp in a village called Matwada. Two dozen members of a government-backed civilian militia, accompanied by at least one police officer, burst into their homes. They dragged four men out onto the street, across from a paramilitary office, and began to beat them with sticks. They paused to pour water over the Matwada men, waking them when they fainted out of pain and fear. When their wives flung themselves across their husbands' weakened bodies, they were beaten too. Then the men were dragged from sight, into the forest. One managed to escape. The next day the remaining three were found buried next to a stream, stabbed in the eyes and the neck and finished off with a knife stab to the head. The men were suspected of being informants, of aiding the nascent Maoist insurgency in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The survivor and three widows filed a criminal case against the state, and a court decided recently that the State of Chhattisgarh would compensate them for the wrongful attacks.
Topic:
Civil War and Government
Political Geography:
India