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India Described as "Borderline Unstable" in Just-Released QDDR Powerpoint!

November 23, 2010

I am noting with some amusement that India is labeled "Borderline Unstable" on a map of fragile states, borrowed from Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, and asterisked with a "Not an official USG Product" (which I am not sure lets the State Department off the hook).  Borderline unstable? Really QDDR?This is what President Obama said on his recent trip to India when he addressed the U.S.-India Business Council:

Today, your country is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.  And while there are many amazing success stories and rapidly expanding markets in Asia, the sheer size and pace of India’s progress in just two decades is one of the most stunning achievements in human history.  This is a fact.  Since your reform of the licensing raj and embrace of the global economy, India has lifted tens of millions of people from poverty and created one of the largest middle classes on the planet.  You are now a nation of rapid growth and rising incomes and massive investments in infrastructure and energy and education.  In the coming decades, you will be the world’s most populous nation, with the largest workforce and one of the largest economies in the world.  Now, undoubtedly, that means that the United States and India will engage in a healthy competition for markets and jobs and industries of the future.  But it also offers the prospect of expanded commercial ties that strongly benefit both countries.
Not one word about instability.  Perhaps some updating is in order from the QDDR team?  Or at least some acknowledgement that indices have a very mixed record when it comes to the real world.

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