Publisher description

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.

The rise of India as a major power has generated new interest in understanding the drivers of its foreign policy. This book argues that analysing India’s foreign and security policies as representational practices which produce India’s identity as a postcolonial nation-state helps to illuminate the conditions of possibility in which foreign policy is made. Spanning the period between 1947 and 2004, the book focuses on key moments of crisis, such as the India-China war in 1962 and the nuclear tests of 1972 and 1998, and the approach to international affairs of significant leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru. The analysis sheds new light on these key events and figures and develops a strong analytical narrative around India’s foreign policy behaviour, based on an understanding of its postcolonial identity. It is argued that a prominent facet of India’s identity is a perception that it is a civilizational-state which brings to international affairs a tradition of morality and ethical conduct derived from its civilizational heritage and the experience of its anti-colonial struggle. This notion of ‘civilizational exceptionalism’, as well as other narratives of India’s civilizational past, such as its vulnerability to invasion and conquest, have shaped the foreign policies of governments of various political hues and continue to influence a rising India.

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.

As India rises to great power status in the emerging multipolar world order, what influence will its rich and ancient culture have on the country’s foreign policy? This book reveals that cultural values have greater explanatory power than previously thought and describes the nature of their influence. Excavating thousands of years of history, the monograph identifies enduring values that are relevant to contemporary foreign policy. It examines three critical areas of Indian foreign policy – nuclear policy, humanitarian intervention and relations with the Middle East. Major decisions were shaped by cultural values – sometimes at the expense of strategic interests. India’s choice to test nuclear weapons was not purely because of China or Pakistan: hierarchy also played a role. From a hierarchical worldview shaping Delhi’s approach to international law on arms control to pluralism facilitating simultaneous friendships with America and Iran, values thread their way throughout India’s foreign relations. Non-violence underpins Delhi’s soft power in both the West and the Middle East, while having spurred India’s opposition to Western intervention in Iraq. Analyzing state behavior and interviewing diplomats, the book charts culture’s evolving influence from Rajiv Gandhi to Narendra Modi.

India's foreign policy, out of the structural confines of the Cold War strategic framework, has become more expansive in defining its priorities over the last few years. With the rise of its economic and military capabilities and strategic interests, India has shaped a diplomacy that is much more aggressive in the pursuit of those interests. Tracing the trajectory of India's foreign policy in the 21st century, this book examines the factors that have shaped the Indian response towards this emerging international security environment. Including a new Afterword, this updated volume looks at the major influences that have shaped India's foreign policy in recent years, in the context of its engagements with strategically important regions across the globe, and its relations with major global powers. The volume will prove invaluable to those studying politics and international relations, diplomatic and political history, defence and military studies, and South Asian studies.

Narendra Modi’s energetic personal diplomacy and promise to make India a ‘leading power’ surprised many analysts. Most had predicted that his government would concentrate on domestic issues, on the growth and development demanded by Indian voters, and that he lacked necessary experience in international relations. Instead, Modi’s first term saw a concerted attempt to reinvent Indian foreign policy by replacing inherited understandings of its place in the world with one drawn largely from Hindu nationalist ideology. Following Modi’s re-election in 2019, this book explores the drivers of this reinvention, arguing it arose from a combination of elite conviction and electoral calculation, and the impact it has had on India’s international relations.

India’s relation with other South Asian countries has been impacted by recent developments in the post-Cold War period. These include India’s economic rise, the recent democratic transitions in many South Asian countries and greater US engagement in the region following 9/11. This book is an effort to address these issues and examine their role in India’s interactions with its neighbours. Indian Foreign Policy in Transition provides a comprehensive overview of India’s relations with the South Asian countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. As well as looking at India’s past and present foreign policy, the book analyses recent political changes and developments. It identifies the broad tenets of India’s policy towards the other countries of South Asia, and the domestic factors that impact India’s policy in the region. It looks at India’s historical patterns of interactions with its neighbours, and describes recent developments in these South Asian countries and their perceptions of India. By providing specific examples of the major disputes and conflicts between India and its neighbours, the book explores the challenges inherent in promoting peace and cooperation, and goes on to highlight the growing US influence in South Asia. Providing an in-depth discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing India in the South Asia region, the book is an important contribution to Indian and South Asian Politics, Foreign Policy, and International Relations.

China's exponential rise and America's relative decline have led to a transition of power in contemporary Asia. The US pivot towards Asia is the most evident manifestation of such a transition, and Indian foreign policy shows signs of a hedging strategy, with attempts to strengthen ties with both China and the US.

Contrary to prior expectations, Narendra Modi has expended a significant amount of time, energy and political capital in conducting India's engagement with the outside world since becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. In accordance with wider perceptions about Modi, there were expectations of significant, if not radical, change in Indian foreign policy under his charge. This sentiment led to a section of Indian strategists and foreign policy watchers conceiving the notion of a 'Modi Doctrine' in Indian foreign policy. This notion of foreign policy 'doctrines' is not new to the analysis of Indian foreign policy. Previous incarnations include the 'Indira Doctrine' of the 1970s, the 'Gujral Doctrine' for a brief period in the late 1990s and the 'Manmohan Doctrine' in the period before Modi was elected as prime minister.This edited volume attempts to interrogate the extent to which Indian foreign policy, under Modi, has undergone significant change and the extent to which this manifests itself as a new doctrine in Indian foreign policy. The individual chapters cover key bilateral relationships (the United States, China, Australia and Pakistan) as well as broader regional relationships (South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region) and specific themes (such as economic diplomacy).