The factors responsible for the rise of the Chinese economy are as determined below :
1. Major policy decisions in the 1970s: China ended its political and economic isolation with the establishment of relations with the United States in 1972.
2. Four modernisations : In 1973 Premier Zhou Enlai proposed modernisation of agriculture, industry, science and technology and military.
3. Open door policy : By 1978 Deng Xiaoping announced the ‘open door’ policy and economic reforms in China to generate higher productivity by foreign capital investment and technology.
4. Privatisation : The privatisation of agriculture in 1982 was followed by the privatisation of industry in 1998. Trade barriers were removed in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) where foreign investors could set up enterprises.

The role of international organizations is helping to set the international agenda, mediating political bargaining, providing a place for political initiatives and acting as catalysts for the coalition- formation. They facilitate cooperation and coordination among member nations.

(i) The Cold War had divided the world into two rival camps or blocs which sided with US and the Soviet Union. The newly decolonised states of Asia, Africa and Latin America did not want to join the either bloc due to the fear of losing their independence again. Under these circumstance NAM offered them a third option- not to join either alliance.
(ii) The founders of NAM were India's Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia's Sukarno and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah
(iii) As a result of the following factors, the first non-aligned summit was held in Belgrade in 1961.

The NAM is an international forum of 120 developing countries that believe in the ideal of non-alignment with the major power blocs. It was established in 1961 in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia under the leadership of the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser and the President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.

• In the aftermath of the Second World War and the decolonisation process, many countries in the developing world in Asia and Africa felt the need for a strong movement towards securing peace and prosperity, and establishing security for all countries.
• This was when the world was divided into two power blocs, that of the USA and the Soviet Union, especially after the signing of the NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
• Most of these countries felt the need for mutual cooperation and coordination with respect to not formally aligning with or against any of the power blocs.
• The collapse of colonialism and the cold war led to the need for improved coordination among the Global South.
• It is interesting to note that the term ‘third world’ arose during the cold war era to denote countries that were not aligned to either of the two power blocs.

Impact of globalisation on culture:

• The last decade (1990 - 2000) has seen major cultural changes leading to fears that on local cultures would be overtaken.
• There are several ways that globalisation affects culture, over the ages our country has had an open approach to cultural influences and have been enriched because of this.
• From time to time we listen about heated debates (or discussing) in our society (or on mass media) not just about political and economic issues but also about changes in clothes, styles, music, dance, films, languages, body-language.
• It is a strategy often adopted by foreign firms while dealing with local traditions in order to enhance their marketability. In India, we find that all the foreign television channels like Star, MTV, Channel V and Cartoon Network use Indian languages. Even McDonald sells only vegetarian and chicken products in India and not its beef products, which are popular abroad. McDonald's goes vegetarian during the Navaratri festival.
• In the field of music, one can see the growth of popularity of ‘Bhangra pop’, Indi pop, fusion music and even remixes.
• A central connection is that all cultures will become similar, that is homogeneous. Others argue that there is an increasing tendency towards glocalisation of culture. Glocalisation refers to the mixing of the global with the local. It is not entirely spontaneous.

Political Consequences:
 (i) Globalisation results in an erosion of state capacity.
 (ii) The old ‘welfare state’ is now giving way to a more minimalist state.
 (iii) In place of the Welfare state, it is the market that becomes the prime determinant of economic and social priorities.
 (iv) The entry and the increased role of MNC all over the world leads to a reduction in the capacity of governments to take decisions on their own.

Political Consequences:

 (i) Globalisation results in an erosion of state capacity.

 (ii) The old ‘welfare state’ is now giving way to a more minimalist state.

 (iii) In place of the Welfare state, it is the market that becomes the prime determinant of economic and social priorities.

 (iv) The entry and the increased role of MNC all over the world leads to a reduction in the capacity of governments to take decisions on their own.

Commons are those resources which are not owned by anyone but rather shared by a community. Similarly, there are some areas or regions of the world which are located outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state, and therefore require common governance by the international community. These are known as Global commons. They include earth’s atmosphere Antarctica, the Ocean floor and outer space.

 Two steps for the protections of ‘Global commons’ are-

 (i) By achieving consensus on common environmental agendas on the basis of vague scientific evidence and time frames.

 (ii) By preventing exploitative activities in outer space.

The various conflicts between India and Pakistan have been explained below :
(i) Kashmir issue : Soon after the partition the two countries were involved in a conflict over the fate of Kashmir. The Pakistani government claimed that Kashmir belonged to it. This led to wars in 1947-48 and 1965. India won a decisive war against Pakistan in 1971 but the Kashmir question remained unsolved.

(ii) There is a conflict over strategic issues like the control of the Siachen glacier and over acquisition of arms. Both the countries have nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver arms against each other. In 1998 India conducted nuclear explosion in Pokharan while Pakistan responded by carrying out nuclear test in the Chagai Hills.
(iii) The Indian government has blamed Pakistan for helping the kashmir militants with arms, money and protection to carry out terrorists strikes against India. It also believes Pakistan aided pro Khalistani militants with arms and ammunitions during 1985-1995.
(iv) According to India, Pakistan’s spy agency ISI is involved in various anti-India campaigns in India's north east operating secretly through Bangladesh and Nepal.
(v) There are differences over the sharing of river waters. However, Indus-waters Treaty has solved this problem.
(vi) The two countries are  not in agreement over the demarcation line in Sir Creek in the Rann of Kutch.

An open economy is one, which is not only involved in the process of production within its domestic territory but also can participate in production anywhere in the rest of the world. An open economy involves itself in the following activities.
It buys shares, debentures, bonds etc. from foreign countries and sells shares, debentures, bonds etc. to foreign countries.
It borrows from foreign countries and lends to foreign countries.
It can send gifts and remittances to foreigners and can receive the same from them.
Normal residents of an open economy can move or be employed and are allowed to work in the domestic territory of other economies.
Due to these reasons, Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product are not same in an open economy. It is to be noted that at present all economies of the world are open economic.

The Bretton Woods Conference took place in the July of 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hamsphire, USA. Under this system, the International Monetary Fund (IMP) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) were established.
The main terms of this agreement were:
(i) Formation of IMF and IBRD (also called the World Bank).
(ii) To establish monetary cooperation amongst the member countries.
(iii) Adjustable peg foreign exchange rates system was followed, i. the exchange rates were fixed, with the provision of changing them if necessary.
Currencies were required to be convertible for trade related and other current account transactions. The governments, however, had the power to regulate capital flows.
(iv) All member countries were required to subscribe to the IMF’s capital.

After World War II, two superpowers emerged, the US and the former USSR. At the same time, imperialism was on the wane and the nations were gaining independence in Asia and Africa. The superpowers sought to win over as many small independent nations as possible. This led to a cold war between the former USSR, which led the socialist countries, and the USA, which posed as the leader of free democracies.

India decided in the circumstances not to commit itself to any big power. At this juncture, at the Asian Relations Conference in March 1957, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru put forth the novel concept of non alignment for the common aspirations of the newly liberated countries of Asia and Africa. According to him:  'For too long, we, the people of Asia, have been petitioner in western courts and chancelleries. That story must now belong to the past. We propose to stand on our own feet.  We do not intend to be playthings of others.' Hence in order to maintain the freedom of India and other independent nations, the concept of the NAM was evolved.

The expression ‘South Asia’ usually includes the following countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The mighty Himalayas in the north and the vast Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal in the south, west and east respectively provide a natural insularity to the region, which is largely responsible for the linguistic, social and cultural distinctiveness of the subcontinent. The boundaries of the region are not as clear in the east and the west, as they are in the north and the south. Afghanistan and Myanmar are often included in discussions of the region as a whole. China is an important player but is not considered to be a part of the region. In this chapter, we shall use South Asia to mean the seven countries mentioned above. Thus defined, South Asia stands for diversity in every sense and yet constitutes one geo-political space

 (i)  Strengthening its military capabilities because India has been involved in conflicts with its neighbours.
 (ii)  Strengthening international norms and international institutions to protect its interests.
 (iii) The third component of Indian security is geared towards meeting security challenges within the country.
 (iv) There has been an attempt in India to developed its economy in a way that the vast mass of citizens are lifted out of poverty and misery and huge economic inequalities are not allowed to exist.

Simla Agreement July 2, 1972. The Simla Agreement signed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan on 2nd July 1972 was much more than a peace treaty seeking to reverse the consequences of the 1971 war (i.e. to bring about withdrawals of troops and an exchange of PoWs).Jul 24, 2012