The result has been waywardness and lethargy in economic and foreign policies. Fareed Zakaria points to this consequence of regional assertiveness in his new book, The Post-American World, an examination of the rise of India and China: “They (these constraints) make it difficult for New Delhi to define a national interest, mobilise the country behind it, and then execute a set of policies to achieve its goals, whether in economic reform or foreign policy.” Perhaps the Indian voter will sort this out too, just as she has of late shown a distaste for the non-serious actor using electoral tools for narrow self-gain, the Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka or the Telengana Rashtriya Samiti in Andhra Pradesh.