Civilization, both as a human phenomenon and as a conceptual framework, is less hard-edged and more fluid, and is, therefore, able to reveal more links and connections in global politics and world history than the commonly used approach of methodological nationalism. Even amidst the apparent ongoing high politics and
geostrategic rivalry of international relations, a civilizational approach can paint a more nuanced and perhaps more accurate picture of global interactions. This is exactly what Ravi Dutt Bajpai's fascinating book Civilization-States of China and India has done. It not only unveils a more complex and more entangled history between the two civilization-states, but also critically examines how civilization itself has been used in the changing discourses of the two countries to construct each other. In doing so, the book provides a rare insightful alternative account of the China–India relationship, one of the most important and perhaps most misunderstood relationships in the 21st century.

Chengxin Pan, Associate Professor, Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Macau, China

Dr Ravi Dutt Bajpai's interrogation of Indian and Chinese international policy reveals an unprecedented form of world politics, wherein civilization is not viewed as an instrument, a vanity or a pretext. Instead, it serves as an identity resource that concurrently motivates, restricts and empowers its representative actors to navigate global politics both bilaterally and multilaterally, each according to their own terms.

Shih Chih-Yu, Professor, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei

Ravi Bajpai's book could not have come at a better time. Dealing with the civilizational stratum of the India–China relationship, it rightly underscores how vastly bypassed this is in western writings. Bajpai weaves the civilizational strand into the nation-state phase of India–China interaction, deftly and sensitively, and shows how this many splendored concept, often taken at face value, offers alternative approaches to understanding the India–China engagement. More importantly, it helps visualise distinctly promising futures.

Alka Acharya, Honorary Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi and Chairperson at the Centre for East Asian Studies, SIS, Jawaharlal Nehru University

The term 'civilization' has been lazily used in International Relations, and much damage was done to an investigation as to what it meant by Samuel Huntington's proposition that the world was entering a phase where Western 'civilization' was challenged by others in an argument of such generality that it brokered no understanding at all of individual cases. Although there has since been discussion of China as a 'civilizational state', and recent concern about the direction of India towards becoming a fully Hindu state, no one has compared the two, even though they are neighbours who have both fought and cooperated together. But there are deep histories to why they fought and cooperated, based on 'civilizational' foundations and impulses.
Ravi Bajpai's brilliant new book is the first to make such a study, starting from the early days of independence in India and taking in the different approaches of the two countries to Tibet. Nuanced and penetrating the book opens many doors and makes the lazy use of the term 'civilization' henceforth impossible. Richness and complexity are unveiled and the dynamics of conflict, cooperation and understanding are laid out in an erudite and deep fashion.

Stephen Chan OBE, former Dean of the Faculty and Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of London

As Western dominance fades, the re-emergence of India and China is a crucial factor in shaping a 'multiplex' world order, a key feature of which is the encounter among civilizations-especially China and India-in conflict and cooperation. As the first systematic academic study of their role as 'civilization states', this book is an extremely timely and valuable contribution.

Amitav Acharya, Distinguished Professor of International Relations and The UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance, School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C.