Regime change happening across the world, says Indian academic
‘Regime Change’ has occurred not only in Sri Lanka and India but in other parts of the world as well including in the Middle Eastern countries in recent times. The factors that have contributed to these changes are many including geopolitics and the end of the Cold War, said Prof. Ashwani K. Sharma of the Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies delivering a lecture at the University of Colombo recently.
He said there was a paradigm shift from geopolitics to geo- economic issues that began to surface following the end of the Cold War.Development in the global system has had an impact on domestic systems in countries creating interdependencies. ”With the ending of the Cold War much pace was created and countries began to think of economic issues. There was a paradigm shift from geopolitical issues to geo-economic issues. As a matter of fact globalisation did not catch up until the end of the Cold War. However during the past 30 years more than 100 countries embraced liberalism and free market economic policies gathering momentum. Revolutions in the information technology field have also paved the way for development.
Good governance and transparency are intertwined for development and job creation in many countries. The Indian economy was growing fast with more than 400 million people falling into the category of the middle income group and the civil society has begun taking a closer look at corruption at all levels. In India corruption was an issue, he said. For a long time people in developing countries did not have an opportunity to become rich but now they are looking at options and opportunities available. Strategic co-operation between countries was also vital for development. As far as Sri Lanka and India are concerned cultural factors and bonds between the two countries play an important part. The right to information was important and an Act will be enacted in India soon. Referring to the fisheries issues, he said Sri Lanka and India can solve these mutually.
Referring to energy crisis plaguing developing countries, he said it was important to go for nuclear energy as a solution. However people are apprehensive about nuclear energy when they think about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that took place about three and a half decades ago but technology has improved since then. “As energy consumption is increasingly exponentially we have to weigh the pros and cons before acquiring nuclear technology to meet the energy demand. However as thermal, coal power and other sources of energy are becoming increasingly costly it will be wise to set up small nuclear power plants to meet the energy requirements,” he said.
Asked whether protectionism and bureaucracy was entrenched in the Indian economy that retards its growth, Prof. Sharma said the new government has focused on eradicating such issues.
Prof. Sharma is an associate professor at the Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS) who graduated in economics from the Delhi University and obtained post graduate qualification from the United Kingdom.