"India, Australia and South Africa are the three major regional powers in the Indian Ocean region. While Australia is a developed country with a very high level of economic affluence, the South African society’s problems are mainly drawn along racial lines. Blacks in South Africa have an overwhelming majority in numbers, and yet most of the black people in South Africa face serious problems of unemployment and poverty. The whites in South Africa have, on the other hand, always enjoyed comfortable standards of living." India provides the classic example of a developing country that is burdened with overpopulation, communal divisions, gender inequalities, rural poverty, illiteracy and yet it is a country that has the potential to emerge as a great global power in the course of the 21 century. The essays included in this volume examine the case of India from various perspectives to demonstrate how the process of economic change in India might have a bearing on the Indian Ocean region as a whole." (jacket)