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CHANGING PATTERNS IN SOUTH ASIA by Ian Thomson

CHANGING PATTERNS IN SOUTH ASIA

By

Publisher: ROY

An informative, challenging and interesting assessment of the years of change in South, and particularly Southeastern Asia. While Ian Thomson does not review- historically or biographically- what has happened country by country, he takes a broad view of the varying factors, the philosophies of the political elements (democracy, communism, socialism) as they are developing on different fronts, and the particular brand of internationalism. He reviews the perspective in South Asia, the realities that must find their place in the future, never losing sight of the factor of the Soviet threat and of Communist China. He senses the changes in approach on the part of Soviet- economic rather than political (an interesting comparison here between the realistic Russian approach and the altruistic- perhaps unintentionally-American approach); he recognizes the long arm of China as a greater menace. All in all a perceptive book, by a man who has spent many years in the Middle and Far East, and as recently as 1958 has toured through Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia and Ceylon. He writes with understanding and concern.