The first section of Part Two deals with Trudeau’s foreign policy, Canada’s failure to win a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council and his challenges in dealing with US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The book is structured imaginatively in two sections, A and B. Section A deals with Northeast Asia and B with South Asia. In Section A, there are three sub-chapters which discuss extensively the countries in the region, such as North Korea, Japan and South Korea and their relationship with China, in particular under Xi Jinping, and separately the influence of Donald Trump in Northeast Asia. In Section B, relations of the US with three countries of South Asia, namely, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are studied in detail followed by the developments in these countries under President Trump.
The Indo-US nuclear deal and the Sri Lankan affairs count for Basrur as exemplars of drift. These two cases show why the Indian state got checkmated by domestic conflicts and institutional infirmities. In contrast, Basrur argues that the absence of a cohesive policy in Indian nuclear strategy and its approach to cross-border terrorism caused a ‘responsibility deficit’.
‘The Age of Nationalisms: Competing Visions’, the first chapter sets the stage by exploring the rise of nationalism in early twentieth century. The author highlights the diversity within nationalist movements in South Asia, showing how they were marked by competing visions and internal conflicts.
However, the book falls short of mentioning any American departure and post-war impacts on the West Asian region. The US withdrew from a long, bloody war in Iraq on the assumption that they had left the country in a better place and condition. Nevertheless
Midway through the book, the author sheds light on how a series of networks were built by the Iraqi regime during the war to appeal to the western world against US actions in Iraq. Numerous political cells were created by Baathist supporters of Saddam to mobilize people in cities like New Jersey