India in the Anglosphere
New York Observer
Anglosphere is a word, and a wish, that has been kicking around for a decade or so. It refers to a handful of nations once ruled by Britain—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland (sorry, Representative King) and Britain itself (so long as it stays out of the E.U.). They share, to some degree, features of the same legal and political systems—common law, democracy, balance of power. They also share the absence of certain other features—men on horseback, putsches. The English language is an unquantifiable accompaniment to the mix.
India’s relation to the Anglosphere began in colonialism.
India now feels a new Anglospheric tug with the blossoming of information technology. The 800 number you dial to order replacement parts or check your bank account connects you to Bangalore, for three reasons. Bangalore has educated, relatively low-wage employees; someone in Bangalore probably wrote the program that makes the system run; and Bangalore, thanks to India’s earlier access to the English language, has the jump on tech centers in other developing nations. So Google fortuitously reaps what Cornwallis and Wellesley sowed—and lays in the seed for later harvests.
India will have its useful idiots and its angry monsters. Those are the parasites on the host body of a free society. Nevertheless, it will do the world good to have a large, well-armed country touched by the law and language of Gladstone.
Anglosphere is a word, and a wish, that has been kicking around for a decade or so. It refers to a handful of nations once ruled by Britain—Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland (sorry, Representative King) and Britain itself (so long as it stays out of the E.U.). They share, to some degree, features of the same legal and political systems—common law, democracy, balance of power. They also share the absence of certain other features—men on horseback, putsches. The English language is an unquantifiable accompaniment to the mix.
India’s relation to the Anglosphere began in colonialism.
India now feels a new Anglospheric tug with the blossoming of information technology. The 800 number you dial to order replacement parts or check your bank account connects you to Bangalore, for three reasons. Bangalore has educated, relatively low-wage employees; someone in Bangalore probably wrote the program that makes the system run; and Bangalore, thanks to India’s earlier access to the English language, has the jump on tech centers in other developing nations. So Google fortuitously reaps what Cornwallis and Wellesley sowed—and lays in the seed for later harvests.
India will have its useful idiots and its angry monsters. Those are the parasites on the host body of a free society. Nevertheless, it will do the world good to have a large, well-armed country touched by the law and language of Gladstone.
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