The rise of China (and India) as a challenge to the West

Scientific Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: South Asia, grade: 1,7, Dresden Technical University (Zentrum fr Internationale Studieun), course: Great Powers in International Relations, language: English, abstract: In his controversially discussed book "The Clash of Civilizations" Samuel P. Huntington draws a future scenario in which China and the United States of America start a disastrous, escalating war. He locates the centre of this world war in the Asian region.

Twenty years after the Cold War, it seems to most of us that the relations between the United States, Russia, China and India, to mention the major powers in East Asia, are complex, but quite stable. But, does today's stability ensure tomorrow's peace? Or may a so called multipolar order not be dangerous for the world as a whole but for the predictions of a theory like realism? And, how can we characterize the international system: multipolar, unipolar, uni-multipolar?

The first question I want to investigate in this context is if war among the new and old great powers is obsolete or not? The second question is related to the first one: What role do the domestic political regimes and institutions play in the rise and perception of these "new" great powers?