Book Reviewed: New Old World, by Pallavi Aiyar

Book Reviewed: New Old World, by Pallavi Aiyar

The socioeconomic crisis in Europe: The new European order and changing identities

This is a very engaging and fascinating investigation into of the current socioeconomic crisis in Europe that is struggling to keep its cultural and economic dominance in the midst of its new citizens, the immigrant population from Asia and Africa. The author observes that several crises continue to distract Europe’s confidence, coherence and competitiveness. The book focuses specifically on the period 2009 to 2012 when demographics, diversity, Islamic ideology, and globalization of business and economics are a part of 21st century Europe. The emergence of India and China as the economic power players and challengers to European business is new and unanticipated. The aging population and low birth rates in many West European countries has also offered some advantages to the newcomers of the continent. The divergence of their value system from the mainstream is provoking anxieties about what it means to be European today. The fear of Islamic terrorism after 7/7 bomb attack in London, the train station in Madrid and the recent attack on the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo in Paris is causing genuine concerns in Europe. Only this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced new radicalization crackdown plans to confront 'Islamist Extremist Ideology’ head-on. The economic crisis in the EEC is also a genuine concern for many member nations, notably Greece. The 2008-2009 Financial Market Collapse shows how vulnerable nations could be, and the austerity measures caused popular resentment against their governments across the continent.

The Europe’s crisis is not of the same texture as of the so called “Third World.” There is no famine here, no stench and no tanks in the city square, but Europe’s crisis is a strange new creature. The old world is old news, and most West- European governments and the media were unwilling to accept India and China as partners. This book tries to weave together strands of these predicaments. The author being of Indian origin focusses on some specific issues that others may overlook, such as hardworking Indian and Chinese immigrants at both upper and lower ends of value chain in Chapter Two; and the performance of Indian-owned businesses across Europe in Chapter Seven. The book discusses some “cold facts” that this once imperious region of the world needs to come to terms with.