774 Ramachandra Guha

774 book reviews Ramachandra Guha (ed.) (2014) Makers of Modern Asia. Cambridge: Belknap Press and Harvard University Press. 385 pages. isbn: 9780674365414. How was Asia transformed into one of the world’s economic powers today? Many who are curious about the rising Asian century have examined Asia’s economic miracle by analysing economic indicators—gross national product, per capita income and share of global trade. However, the discussions of Asian rising by just looking to the economic achievements in the region present a partial picture of the Asian resurgence. Ramachandra Guha, in Makers of Modern Asia, argues that it is impossible to grasp Asia’s stunning economic rise without discussing the political preconditions of that economic growth. He argues that behind the economic successes of some Asian countries lies “a now somewhat obscured history of agitation and consolidation that created unified stable nation-states out of fragmented territories and fractious social groups” (p. 4). These political developments, which shaped modern Asia, involved political leaders, not billionaire businessmen. Makers of Modern Asia presents the biographies of 11 Asian political leaders that played a crucial role in crafting modern Asia. The approach taken by this book is similar to what Guha did before in Makers of Modern India (2011). It uses the biographies of individuals to explore the wider social and political processes. In addition, the biography has the potential to uncover a more comprehensive political history by linking the life of someone in relation to others. By centring on political lives, this book intends to “provide a richer, more nuanced context for the contemporary understanding of the economic rise of Asia” (p. 14). But the problem of this book is in the choice of the persons. Who are outstanding political leaders appropriate as makers of modern Asia? After considering many great leaders of Asia and explaining why certain persons and regions have been chosen or ignored, this book selects four leaders from China: Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and Chiang Kai-shek. Three names come from India: Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. The rest of the four leaders come from four different countries: Sukarno from Indonesia, Ho Chi Minh from Vietnam, Lee Kuan Yew from Singapore and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto from Pakistan. The 10 authors of the book discusses how these premier nationalists and state-makers led anti-colonial movements, consolidated and founded new nation-states and shaped their political systems, economic and foreign policies. There are several noteworthy similarities between these leaders. First, most of the leaders in this collection were born into middle- or upper-class fami- lies and educated in Europe or North America; others had worked or travelled © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi: 10.1163/15685314-04406011 book reviews 775 overseas in their youth. For some leaders, such as Deng, Zhou, Ho, Nehru, Bhutto, Lee and Gandhi, their experiences abroad significantly affected their political and intellectual orientation. Second, they were intelligent, well-read and prolific writers and these competences made them recognised as “scholar- statesmen”. Third, although they hated European domination of their countries, they still learned from the Western experience on the process of creating modern nation-states and building modern economies. All of them were chal- lenged with the problem of national unity, the question of appropriate political system and the best strategy to overcome mass poverty and to push industrial- isation. The struggle for achieving national unity became major preoccupation for some Asian nationalist leaders after the withdrawal of foreign ruler. Sukarno, for example, dedicated his lifetime making the nation whole by disseminat- ing “unity in diversity” throughout a diverse archipelago. Another challenge for those political leaders related to the question of which was the appropriate political system adopted after independence. The choice, according to Guha, was sometimes determined in the course of anti-colonial struggle of its countries (p. 7). In terms of economic strategy, most of them applied socialism as a national economic model. But this model later failed to boost prosperity. Exception is given to Lee Kuan Yew and Deng Xiaoping who developed state capitalism and successfully transformed Singapore and China to become global economic powers. However, Wedstad and Barr argue that although both have produced prosperity, they neglected the development of politics that have made their countries lose respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Barr states that Lee’s vision on political development has left Singapore “a sterile, soulless and racist society that has little respect for ordinary human values” (p. 266). Meanwhile, Wedstad points out that Deng failed “to break the vicious cycle of repression that still informs its mode of government” (p. 214). However, it is not only Deng and Lee that have a problem with building a demo- cratic government. Most leaders profiled in this collection, in fact, developed their regime through violence and terror. Overall, Makers of Modern Asia presents an eloquent, detailed and balanced account of outstanding Asian leaders. This book cajoles readers to explore the complexities of trans-Asian nations and their state-building. However, I have one criticism regarding the approach used by the book to select figures that are shaping modern Asia. This book tends to focus on the role of statesmen or political leaders and does not consider the potential contributions of actors at the non-state level, such as religious leaders or influential cultural figures, which could enrich our understanding of Asian political developments from a different angle. The main contribution of this book, in my opinion, is its Asian Journal of Social Science 44 (2016) 763–776.

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