The Chart Online

India's future looks bright with democracy way of life
Virginia Fairchild

City Editor

Discussion on the survival of the decade of India brought students and faculty together Sept. 26.

Empty seats were few and far between as an estimated 450 people attended the first leg of The Harry and Berniece Gockel International Symposium, "India and South Asia: Conflict, Crisis, and Kashmir," in Taylor Auditorium, presented by the Institute of International Studies. Some students came with classes, but others came because of their interest in the topic.

"I came with my Theatre Appreciation class," said Hope Biesterveld, freshman undecided major. "But, I learned a lot about India."

She said the decorations used on the auditorium's stage set the mood and added to the presentations.

Dr. Stephen P. Cohen, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., gave the address titled, "Did the Decade of India Last Four Years?" Dr. Karl J. Schmidt, associate professor of history and international studies, moderated the discussion.

Cohen believes the decade of India, which began in 2000, will survive longer than four years; he gave reasons as to why.

Cohen said India is a "strategic partner" in which the United States has found interest. The United States is taking an indirect strategy in approaching India's nuclear proliferation.

"It (India) is not an ally, but it's everything but an ally," Cohen said.

Another reason India will survive, he said, is because "democracy has a deep foot hold in India."

"Democracy is a bad system of governance, but all others are worse," Cohen said.

Although he said the Indian economy is a "big question mark," other parts are growing well. He said India is growing slowly but surely. The uneven growth in the economy and the abundance of "poor people," he said, is causing instability. This, in turn, is disabling the ability for it to grow economically.

Cohen addressed the conflict between Pakistan and India. He said it's like a family feud.

"It's a chronic problem for India, possibly a fatal problem for Pakistan," Cohen said. The United States should not put this situation on the back burner, he said. Throughout his presentation, Cohen made references to Russia as a world power.

Dr. Tatiana Karmanova, director of the International Language Resource Center, said Cohen s comments about Russia were contrary to factual data.

You can t encourage the studying of other regions by discouraging the study of others, she said. He was contradicting his own words, because if the United States should stay in Pakistan because of nukes, then Russia should definitely not be excluded.

Karmanova said Cohen was speaking from a biased viewpoint.

Cohen received a Bachelor and Master of Arts in political science from the University of Chicago. His Ph.D. in political science, with a minor in Indian studies, is from the University of Wisconsin.

Besides working as a senior fellow, Cohen is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He has the title of senior research scientist in the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, of which he was co-founder and director.

From 1965-1998, Cohen was a faculty member at the University of Illinois. While a member of the policy planning staff of the U.S. Department of State between 1985-1987, he advised on matters pertaining to South Asia, security and proliferation issues.

Cohen has appeared on national television including All Things Considered and Nightline. He is a member of the National Academy of Science's Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and the board of trustees of the Washington, D.C.-based Public Education Center. Cohen is the co-founder and chair of the workshop on Security, Technology and Arms for younger South Asian and Chinese strategists, held for the past eight years in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and China. He has also written, co-authored or edited nine books.