The notion that a monolithic idea of ‘nonalignment’ shaped India’s foreign policy since its inception is a popular view. In Power and Diplomacy, Zorawar Daulet Singh challenges conventional wisdom by unveiling another layer of India’s strategic culture. In a richly detailed narrative using new archival material, the author not only reconstructs the worldviews and strategies that underlay geopolitics during the Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi years, he also illuminates the significant transformation in Indian statecraft as policymakers redefined some of their fundamental precepts on India’s role in in the subcontinent and beyond. His contention is that those exertions of Indian policymakers are equally apposite and relevant today. Whether it is about crafting a sustainable set of equations with competing great powers, formulating an intelligent Pakistan policy, managing India’s ties with its smaller neighbours, dealing with China’s rise and Sino-American tensions, or developing a sustainable Indian role in Asia, Power and Diplomacy strikes at the heart of contemporary debates on India’s unfolding foreign policies.
Following the end of the Cold War, the economic reforms in the early 1990s, and ensuing impressive growth rates, India has emerged as a leading voice in global affairs, particularly on international economic issues. Its domestic market is fast-growing and India is becoming increasingly important to global geo-strategic calculations, at a time when it has been outperforming many other growing economies, and is the only Asian country with the heft to counterbalance China. Indeed, so much is India defined internationally by its economic performance (and challenges) that other dimensions of its internal situation, notably relevant to security, and of its foreign policy have been relatively neglected in the existing literature. This handbook presents an innovative, high profile volume, providing an authoritative and accessible examination and critique of Indian foreign policy. The handbook brings together essays from a global team of leading experts in the field to provide a comprehensive study of the various dimensions of Indian foreign policy.
South Asia is one of the most volatile regions of the world, and India’s complex democratic political system impinges on its relations with its South Asian neighbours. Focusing on this relationship, this book explores the extent to which domestic politics affect a country’s foreign policy. The book argues that particular continuities and disjunctures in Indian foreign policy are linked to the way in which Indian elites articulated Indian identity in response to the needs of domestic politics. The manner in which these state elites conceive India’s region and regional role depends on their need to stay in tune with domestic identity politics. Such exigencies have important implications for Indian foreign policy in South Asia. Analysing India’s foreign policy through the lens of competing domestic visions at three different historical eras in India’s independent history, the book provides a framework for studying India’s developing nationhood on the basis of these idea(s) of ‘India’. This approach allows for a deeper and a more nuanced interpretation of the motives for India’s foreign policy choices than the traditional realist or neo-liberal framework, and provides a useful contribution to South Asian Studies, Politics and International Studies.
Examines the emergence of anti-imperialist internationalism during the interwar years from the perspective of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
"The book which is an excellent exposition, has to be read critically and thoughtfully by our ambassadors, counsellors and others charged with directional changes in India's foreign policy as it portrays the profile from 1947 to 1992 and shifts the paradigm from political diplomacy to economic diplomacy by way of prognosis so as to project India's image with a sophisticated understanding of India's foreign policy." -USI Journal "This book rightly brings into focus the basic change in India's foreign policy from the initial years - a change which has made India more a regional actor than a world actor. It also rightly points out that with the decise of the Soviet Union, the globalization of the Indian economy may lead to the erosion of the independent character of India's foreign policy." --Asian Affairs "The author has made the best use of his opportunity and produced a sharply etched and crisply turned analysis, devoid of all verbosity. Such an exercise, by definition, entails a thorough and perceptive understanding of the ground realities. Nothing could be a happier end-product for the reader." --Economic and Political Weekly "This book strikes a special niche for itself in the limited literature on the subject, owing to the unique structure adopted by the author to narrate developments in foreign affairs of India from 1947 to 1992, and to identify substance from shadows. Books so far have dealt either exclusively with substantive issues in foreign policy or exclusively on the process of foreign policy making. But Professor Kapur has co-relatively combined two areas of interest of every student of Indian foreign policy/policy and process. . . . This book is useful not only for students and teachers of Indian foreign policy but also to policy makers and the general public as well." --Indian Book Chronicle National security. Modernization. Regional primacy. The country's role in the international order. What elements in the decision-making process have governed India's views and actions with regard to these four central sections of its foreign policy? Defining and analyzing these subjects within the historical constructs that have emerged since 1947, the author begins by establishing and evaluating the relative importance of India's policy objectives. Kapur next correlates these objectives to the changes witnessed since they were set, examining both domestic and international factors that have contributed to these changes. Combining a variety of approaches and methodologies, this comprehensive study of foreign policy evolution and function will interest a wide cross-section of readers; scholars of foreign affairs and international studies, diplomats, journalists, and politicians will all appreciate this valuable resource "This is an eminently readable and important work that ought to be consulted by students of Indian foreign policy." -Contemporary Southeast Asia "Kapur's book has much to offer to students, journalists, and practicing--even retired--diplomats." -Deccan Herald "In this short book [the author] has provided a sound analysis under four heads; security, development, regional hegemony and the search for an international role." -The Book Review
India is becoming an increasingly visible, powerful and influential state within the global system. As this rise to prominence continues, better appreciating the interests and principles that structure the international interactions of South Asia’s largest state has never been so important. Keen to embrace an expectant future as a great power, India’s transitional journey has been characterised by astounding diplomatic achievements and significant strategic failures. In this robust and comprehensive analysis, Chris Ogden introduces students to the key dimensions of Indian foreign policy from her emergence as a modern state in 1947 to the present day. Combining theoretical insight with numerous case studies and profiles, he examines the foreign policy making process, strategic thinking, the crucial search for economic growth, and India’s difficult regional position and troubled borders. Tracking the trajectory of one of the 21st century’s major Asian and global powers, later chapters focus on New Delhi’s multilateral interaction, great power dynamics, and expanding relations with the United States and the world. Critically assessing what kind of great power India can and wants to be, this wide-ranging introduction will be an invaluable text for students of South Asian politics, foreign policy, and international relations.
Organizing Empire critically examines how concepts of individualism functioned to support and resist British imperialism in India. Through readings of British colonial and Indian nationalist narratives that emerged in parliamentary debates, popular colonial histories, newsletters, memoirs, biographies, and novels, Purnima Bose investigates the ramifications of reducing collective activism to individual intentions. Paying particular attention to the construction of gender, she shows that ideas of individualism rhetorically and theoretically bind colonials, feminists, nationalists, and neocolonials to one another. She demonstrates how reliance on ideas of the individual—as scapegoat or hero—enabled colonial and neocolonial powers to deny the violence that they perpetrated. At the same time, she shows how analyses of the role of the individual provide a window into the dynamics and limitations of state formations and feminist and nationalist resistance movements. From a historically grounded, feminist perspective, Bose offers four case studies, each of which illuminates a distinct individualizing rhetorical strategy. She looks at the parliamentary debates on the Amritsar Massacre of 1919, in which several hundred unarmed Indian protesters were killed; Margaret Cousins’s firsthand account of feminist organizing in Ireland and India; Kalpana Dutt’s memoir of the Bengali terrorist movement of the 1930s, which was modeled in part on Irish anticolonial activity; and the popular histories generated by ex-colonial officials and their wives. Bringing to the fore the constraints that colonial domination placed upon agency and activism, Organizing Empire highlights the complexity of the multiple narratives that constitute British colonial history.
India's foreign policy toward Israel is a subject of deep dispute. Throughout the twentieth century arguments have raged over the Palestinian problem and the future of bilateral relations. Yet no text comprehensively looks at the attitudes and policies of India toward Israel, especially their development in conjunction with history. P. R. Kumaraswamy is the first to account for India's Israel policy, revealing surprising inconsistencies in positions taken by the country's leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and tracing the crackling tensions between its professed values and realpolitik. Kumaraswamy's findings debunk the belief that India possesses a homogenous policy toward the Middle East. In fact, since the early days of independence, many within India have supported and pursued relations with Israel. Using material derived from archives in both India and Israel, Kumaraswamy investigates the factors that have hindered relations between these two countries despite their numerous commonalities. He also considers how India destabilized relations, the actions that were necessary for normalization to occur, and the directions bilateral relations may take in the future. In his most provocative argument, Kumaraswamy underscores the disproportionate affect of anticolonial sentiments and the Muslim minority on shaping Indian policy.
