Narayani Basu's Books

VP Menon

The Unsung Architect of Modern India

By: Narayani Basu

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VP Menon

The Unsung Architect of Modern India

By: Narayani Basu

With his initial plans for an independent India in tatters, the desperate viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, turned to his seniormost Indian civil servant, Vappala Pangunni Menon—or VP—giving him a single night to devise an alternative, coherent and workable plan for independence. Menon met his stringent deadline, presenting the Menon Plan, which would change the map of the world forever. Menon was unarguably the architect of the modern Indian state. Yet startlingly little is known about this bureaucrat, patriot and visionary. In this definitive biography, Menon’s great-granddaughter, Narayani Basu, rectifies this travesty. She takes us through the highs and lows of his career, from his determination to give women the right to vote; to his strategy, at once ruthless and subtle, to get the princely states to accede to India; to his decision to join forces with the Swatantra Party; to his final relegation to relative obscurity. Equally, the book candidly explores the man behind the public figure— his unconventional personal life and his private conflicts, which made him channel his energy into public service. Drawing from documents—scattered, unread and unresearched until now—and with unprecedented access to Menon’s papers and his taped off-the-record and explosively frank interviews—this remarkable biography of VP Menon not only covers the life and times of a man unjustly consigned to the footnotes of history but also changes our perception of how India, as we know it, came into being.

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Page Count

675

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

9386797690

ISBN 13

9789386797698

The United States and China

Competing Discourses of Regionalism in East Asia

By: Narayani Basu

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The United States and China

Competing Discourses of Regionalism in East Asia

By: Narayani Basu

With its long history of internal divisiveness and its intersecting cultural and linguistic cleavages, East Asia is undoubtedly a complex area. However, the idea of East Asia as a regional entity is one that is relatively recent – a concept that gained momentum after the financial crisis that rocked the region in the 1990s. In recent years, East Asia has become considerably more interdependent, connected and cohesive. This increased cohesiveness has been driven by a dense network of trade and investments, technology sharing and communication, among many other variables and has been reflected in the increasing institutionalisation of regional mechanisms like the ASEAN. Regionalism is not, however, entirely about economic interdependence. In today’s day and age, it means not only overarching social networks and a regional identity, but also strategic thinking that recognises common security interests. This book takes into account the regional discourses of two of East Asia’s biggest players – the United States and China. While the former has been a power to reckon with, albeit “externally”, deeply entrenched in the region since the end of the Second World War, the rise of China in the 21st century and its emergence as the largest power in East Asia has brought a new perspective to East Asian regionalism. In 2010, the United States began reasserting itself in East Asia, bringing into sharp focus the ideological differences between itself and China as each vied to shape the architecture of East Asian security. There is no doubt that heightened American interest comes at a time when China’s own views of regionalism have become noticeably less cooperative. While balance of power politics is one way to look at the geopolitical tug-of-war in East Asia, there are questions that have not yet been answered. How do the two countries look at a region that is so important for them? How has that perception influenced their foreign policy within the same arena? More importantly, how do they define East Asia? This book studies American and Chinese regional discourses from the end of the Cold War to the present day in order to highlight the rationale behind the natural balance of power politics between an established power and a rising one, and its subsequent effects on security regionalism in East Asia.

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Page Count

225

Publisher

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443884405

ISBN 13

9781443884402

VP Menon

The Unsung Architect of Modern India

By: Narayani Basu

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VP Menon

The Unsung Architect of Modern India

By: Narayani Basu

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

675

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

9386797690

ISBN 13

9789386797698

The United States and China

Competing Discourses of Regionalism in East Asia

By: Narayani Basu

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The United States and China

Competing Discourses of Regionalism in East Asia

By: Narayani Basu

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

225

Publisher

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443884405

ISBN 13

9781443884402

Book's by Narayani Basu

VP Menon

VP Menon

The United States and China

The United States and China

VP Menon

VP Menon

The United States and China

The United States and China

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