Civil Society Flourishes in India
Reading posts on the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, I've been struck by the tremendous vitality of both existing and spontaneous relief organizations in India. In Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria looks at the broader trend of newly flourishing civil society in India. His conclusion:
China is following the East Asian model, with a strong government promoting and regulating capitalist growth. Historically, this has been the most effective way out of poverty. But India might well be forging a new path, of necessity, with society making up for the deficiencies of the state. Actually, this is not entirely new. In some ways India's messy development resembles that of another large, energetic, chaotic country where society has tended to loom larger than the state--the United States of America. It is a parallel to keep in mind.