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.

The book is a very timely and important work on US foreign policy toward India since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The author traces the trajectory of closer Indo-US relations during the Bush and Obama administrations. The author applies a qualitative methodological approach to describe these changes and explain the factors that explain the strengthened bilateral relationship, especially after decades of irritable relations between the two "estranged democracies." The book compares two factors – (a) the 9/11 attacks; (b) global structural changes after the Cold War – to assess which of these factors best explains closer Indo-US relations over the last two decades. The author's argument seems to be that the explanation lies more in the second factor (structural changes), rather than the first (consequences of the 9/11 attacks). The book should be a fascinating one that provides an excellent analysis of Indo-US relations since India's independence to Obama administrations based on extensive use of key primary sources including interviewing the persons involved in US foreign policy-making process. While the existing literature has mainly focused on the civil-nuclear deal as a turning point for Indo-US relations, this book presented an alternative story for improved Indo-US relations in the 21st century and uncovered the ongoing puzzle. More interestingly, the author showed how Indian diaspora as a 3rd party play role in strengthening Indo-US relations.

This book discusses and analyses the dimensions of Turkey’s strategic rapprochement with the Eurasian states and institutions since the deterioration of Ankara’s relations with its traditional NATO allies. Do these developments signify a major strategic reorientation in Turkish foreign policy? Is Eurasia becoming an alternative geopolitical concept to Europe or the West? Or is this ‘pivot to Eurasia’ an instrument of the current Turkish government to obtain greater diplomatic leverage? Engaging with these key questions, the contributors explore the geographical, political, economic, military and social dynamics that influence this process, while addressing the questions that arise from the difficulties in reconciling Ankara’s strategic priorities with those of other Eurasian countries like Russia, China, Iran and India. Chapters focus on the different aspects of Turkey’s improving bilateral relations with the Eurasian states and institutions and consider the possibility of developing a convincing Eurasian alternative for Turkish foreign policy. The book will be useful for researchers in the fields of politics and IR more broadly, and particularly relevant for scholars and students researching Turkish foreign policy and the geopolitics of Eurasia.

This book examines the success of the US rebalancing (or pivot) strategy towards Asia, placing the US pivot in a historical context while highlighting its policy content and management dilemmas. Further, the contributors discuss the challenges and opportunities that each regional state confronts in responding to the US rebalancing strategy. In 2011, President Barack Obama laid out the framework for a strategic pivot of US policy towards the Asia Pacific region. Writers in this volume focus specifically on Asian perception of the strategy. Among the topics they explore are: China’s desire to be seen as equal to the US while maintaining foreign policy initiatives independent of the US strategic rebalance; the strengthening of Japan’s alliance with the US through its security policies; the use of US-China competition by South Korea to negotiate its influence in the region; and Australia’s embrace of the strategy as a result of foreign direct investment that provides economic benefits to the country.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - Political systems in general and in comparison, grade: 1,3, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Institut für Politische Wissenschaft), course: Mastercourse: American Conflict and Crisis Management in the 21st Century, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to approach the subject of reorientation of the US foreign policy regarding the Pacific region. Priority will be set on military and alliance policy factors of main parties involved, first and foremost the USA. Moreover the issues of the strategy of reorientation in itself and problems that are involved will be addressed. In addition the following will be discussed: characteristics and implementation options and the question of relevance as to how this reorientation towards Asia means neglecting other regions like the Near East, and how the U.S. are to bring their global claim of validity in conformity with it. Tthe US have a strong presence of seaborne, airborne and ground-based facilities; numerous military materials, as well as personnel, are stationed in the state of Hawaii, Alaska and Guam. This includes troop concentrations in allied countries such as South Korea and Japan but also a rotating stationing of troops in some other partner countries within Pacific-Asia such as the Philippines and Australia. For some time past the USA have been turning towards the region of Southeast Asia and they are beginning to expand their political, economical and military engagement in this region of the world. There are diverse reasons for this such as an opening of new rising markets and the development of political and economical relations to significant emerging countries, and perhaps future industrialized countries of the 21st century. Another reason is China’s ascent as an important player regarding international relations which are significant to the US as well as to future relations of both countries.

'Is India a friend, rival or enemy?' This was the question journalist Reshma Patil asked the people she met on her journeys through China where she set up the first China bureau of the Hindustan Times. As she travelled from government-run think-tanks to universities where the country's future policymakers are being groomed, or to state-run newsrooms and economic zones attracting their first-ever Indian investors, the responses that she received ranged from uncomfortable silence to blank stares and frowns. The rarest response was friend, equally so was enemy. More than five decades since the month-long border war in 1962, mutual ignorance and prejudice define the relations between India and China. The two countries have differences over strategic issues beyond the border and Pakistan, including the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. The coming decade, with new governments in China in 2013 and in India in 2014, will be a crucial indicator of whether these neighbours move further apart or better manage their differences. Strangers across the Border: Indian Encounters in Boomtown China captures with a reporter's acuity the twin strategies of cooperation and competition that shape Beijing's India policy and Chinese ideas of India. From software parks where techies lesser skilled than their Indian counterparts in Bengaluru demand higher salaries, to factories where Hindu idols are churned out in the thousands for sale in India, Reshma Patil traces the many spaces where India and China struggle to converge or threaten to collide. The state-run newspaper Global Times tries to mobilize public sentiment against India with its provocative articles; the Chinese police call unannounced at her apartment to check her visa papers. But the simple acts of everyday life that she encounters - like being saved from being questioned by the border police by a woman taxi driver, or the young beauty queen who lives on the Gandhian principle of ahimsa, a spiritual need in an atheist regime, or the wise professor who encourages his students to rethink the repressive one-child policy - make her journey much more than a simple journalistic enquiry. Finely balanced between the political and the personal, this is a nuanced account of a relationship that continues to be an enigma which, if unravelled, could change the future of 2.5 billion people.

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.