The Eagle and the Elephant: Strategic Aspects of US-India Economic Engagement

The Eagle and the Elephant shows how economic engagement directly affects how the United States cooperates with India on strategic issues. Through case studies of major efforts, including civil nuclear cooperation, services outsourcing, antiterrorism, and electricity generation and the environment, Raymond E. Vickery Jr. presents both successful and unsuccessful instances of complex collaborations between the two nations.

Vickery draws on his own experience in the Commerce Department and as an economic consultant. Buttressed by information from official sources, journalistic accounts, and interviews, he offers new insight into the interplay of legislative and executive branch officials, policy proponents, business and nonprofit organizations, and activists.

Vickery explores how the US employs commercial diplomacy as only one component of an overall economic engagement in the formation and implementation of foreign policy. This interaction, Vickery argues, has the potential to increase intergovernmental confidence and cooperation in areas vital to both countries and to world security and peace.

Acknowledgments

1. Economic Engagement: The Engine of Strategic Cooperation

2. Economic Engagement and Civil Nuclear Cooperation

3. Services Outsourcing and Economic Development

4. Economic Engagement and Preserving the Peace: The Reaction to Terrorism

5. Economic Engagement, Electric Power, and the Environment

6. Energy and Defense Security: The Iran Pipeline Example

7. Economic Engagement and Multilateralism: Meeting the Financial Meltdown

8. Economic Engagement and Food Security: Green Revolutions

9. Economic Engagement and Health Security: The Fight against HIV/AIDS

10. Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?

“Ray Vickery’s extensive first-hand experience in U.S.-India economic relations, combined with his scrupulous research, has led to a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of a relationship of increasing importance to both nations and the world. The Eagle and the Elephant is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the economic relationship between the US and India and how it shapes the relationship in general.”—Lee H. Hamilton, former U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs

“With the growth of the economic engagement between India and the United States, a work of this kind is very important for policy practitioners as well as academics and journalists as they seek to understand the nature of the economic relationship.”—Walter Andersen, Johns Hopkins University

“This is a book that ought to be on the reading list of anyone involved in international investment or international commerce. In its case study/episodic approach, it illustrates the pitfalls and the successes of US-India economic engagement over the past 20 years. There are invaluable lessons here, applicable not only in India but anywhere in the world.”—Clayton Yeutter, former United States Representative and Secretary of Agriculture

“This is absolutely the best book on India-US relations since Dennis Kux’s Estranged Democracies. A must-read for anyone interested in American foreign policy and the interaction of economics, politics, and strategy—scholarly and rich in insights from a consummate policymaker. Vickery knows India and the US—and it shows. The case studies are quite simple terrific. It should be standard reading in South Block and Foggy Bottom.”—Kanti Bajpal, Visiting Professor, Lee Huan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

“Raymond Vickery provides the first and very fascinating account of the complex interplay between the economic and strategic dimensions of the Indo-US relationship. For anyone interested in the recent history and the potential impact of the transformed relations between India and the United States, Vickery’s volume is indispensable.”—C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and columnist for The Indian Express, New Delhi

“A book written by an insider in the Clinton administration is bound to pique interest among those keen on unravelling the driving force behind India-US relations. The Eagle and the Elephant does not disappoint.… A must read for anyone interested in doing business in, or with, India.”—India, Inc.

“This well-written study will be useful to advanced readers interested in India’s economic development and the Indo-US economic relationship.”—Choice

“The USA-China-India triangle in going to define the future of global politics in more ways than one. [Vickery’s book] significantly enhance[s] our understanding of this triad and the possible future trajectories of Sino-Indian and Indo-US ties.”—Asian Affairs