Joseph Lawson

The dragon and the taniwha: Maori and Chinese in New Zealand

particularly after the break-up of former USSR. While the first two chapters (17 and 18) discuss the history of relations between Russia and Mongolia since 1921, the other chapter (19) throws light on the political, social, cultural and economic perspectives of the Russia-Mongolia relations in the contemporary times. India, another important global player in the twenty-first century, has been on Mongolia’s cultural and civilizational radar for the last 2,700 years as its ‘spiritual neighbor’. Mongolia’s new freedom of strategic choice speaks volume of the commonality of interests between both the countries. The signing of the Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation in 1994 between the two countries is a watermark that has laid a solid foundation for further development of bilateral relations and cooperation in regional and global affairs. Besides, Mongolia’s geopolitical location makes it very special for India’s Asian strategy. To substantiate the above claim, there are five chapters (11 to 15) in this book dealing comprehensively and exclusively with India-Mongolia relations, focusing on their civilizational ties from ancient to modern times, the contribution of Prof. Raghuvira to the promotion of Mongolian studies, links between Indian and Mongolian literature with particular reference to the Buddhist influences, and the problems and prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries at the present juncture. The only chapter (chapter 20) devoted to Mongolia’s relations with the lone superpower, the United States of America, critically analyses the political and economic relations between both the countries since the end of Cold War shedding light on the ‘many positives’ and ‘some negatives’ in the USMongolia relations. Since the contributors to this book have presented data, facts and information from various national and international sources, this book is one of the finest volumes available to date on Mongolia for a wide audience. This well documented volume with thoroughly researched scholarly papers definitely caters to the needs of not only policy makers, but also students, researchers and academics working on politics, international relations and security studies, society, culture, transnational trade, migration, geopolitics, geo-strategy, etc. of multiple regions such as Mongolia as well as South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia and Eurasia. The editors have done a commendable job in bringing out this volume, particularly in the field of still neglected Mongolian Studies, which need to be strengthened in the contemporary period given the importance of geopolitics surrounding Mongolia.