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.

Publisher description

This volume brings together cutting-edge research in the field of Indian foreign policy both at the theoretical and empirical level.

This book analyses India’s relations with its neighbours (China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) and other world powers (USA, UK, and Russia) over a span of 60 years. It traces the roots of independent India’s foreign policy from the Partition and its fallout, its nascent years under Nehru, and non-alignment to the influence of economic liberalization and globalization. The volume delves into the underlying reasons of persistent problems confronting India’s foreign policy-makers, as well as foreign-policy interface with defence and domestic policies. This book will be indispensable to students, scholars and teachers of South Asian studies, international relations, political science, and modern Indian history.

This book investigates the interplay of internal and external constraints, challenges and possibilities regarding foreign policy in India. It is the first attempt to systematically analyse and focus on the different actors and institutions in the domestic and international contexts who impose and push for various directions in India’s foreign policy. Rather than focusing on any one particular theme, the book explores the myriad aspects of foreign policymaking and the close interface between the domestic and external aspects in Indian policymaking. In turn, this relates to the structural issues shaping and reshaping the Asian regional dynamics and India’s connectivity within a globalized world. This book will be of great interest to postgraduate students; scholars of Asian Studies, development, and political science and international relations; and all those involved in policy – especially foreign policy – within India and South Asia. It will also be useful for people working in professional branches of consultancy and the private sector dealing with India and with South Asia in general.

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.

This Handbook gives an overview of India’s international relations, given the development of India as a major economic power in the world, and the growing interest in the impact of Asia on the international system in the future. Edited by David Scott of Brunel University, and with chapters written by a variety of experts, the Handbook of India’s International Relations offers an up-to-date, unbiased and comprehensive resource to academics, students of international relations, business people, media professionals and the general reader. There is a pre-publication price on this title, the price rises to £150 three months after publication.

Draws on the theories and methods of International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis to study India's contemporary Gulf policy.

This book uncovers how US-India relations have changed and intensified during the administrations of Bill Clinton, George Bush Jr., and Barack Obama. Throughout the Cold War, US-India relations were often distant and volatile as India mostly received attention at times of grave international crises, but from the late 1990s onwards, the US showed a more sustained interest in India. How was this shift possible? While previous scholarship has focused on the civilian nuclear deal as a turning point, this book presents an alternative account for this change by analyzing how India’s identity has been constructed in different terms after the Cold War. It examines the underlying discourse and explains how this enables or constrains US foreign policymakers when they establish security policies with India and improve US-India relations.

Changing patterns of energy production and consumption are transforming the geopolitics of the global system. The BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (not discussed in this volume), a loose conglomeration of emerging powers, are part of the change as are Western powers. Variations in the energy policies of the Americas, especially the United States and Canada, are altering existing dynamics. Both states are increasing energy production and are projected to become energy independent in the very near future. The BRICS themselves wield much energy power as well. Specifically, Russia’s oil policy and China’s coal policy are creating for the world a new infrastructure within which middle and weaker countries may consider as the future. This edited volume summarizes our analysis with particular emphasis on the rapidly changing role of the BRICS in the world’s energy system. In this collection, energy experts and international relations analysts examine production and consumption of states, the exportation and importation of energy, and alternative strategies for maintaining the international order or changing the international order.