Approaches to the Study of India's Foreign Policy
UNIT 2 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY
Structure 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Introduction Political Realist and ‘Complex Neo-realist’Approaches to India’s Foreign Policy Perspective of Interdependence and Complex Interdependence New World Order Non-alignment and the Nehruvian Consensus Summary Exercises
2.1
INTRODUCTION
Literature on Indian foreign policy offers a range of approaches to the study of the subject. They range from traditional approaches based on the theories of realism and neo-realism, interdependence and complex interdependence to approaches that are rooted in the domestic cultural and socio-political ethos centred on the historical experiences and of Indian freedom movement as well as the ideals and aspirations of the leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru of India’s freedom struggle. At the outset two points need to be stressed. In the first place, while each one of the approaches helps us in an understanding, India’s foreign policy can, and need, better be studied from an eclectic perspective. No single approach would suffice for an understanding of the complexities of the making and conduct of India’s foreign policy. Besides, in the available literature there obtains a quality, which is native to the country. Nor for that matter, policy-makers and practitioners have and would ever fit their practices into rigid theoretical framework. A perusal of the varieties of approaches nevertheless offers useful insights to the principles and ideals, mechanisms and instruments, and the actors and forces that have come to frame the objectives and devise appropriate instruments for the formulation and implementation of the country’s foreign policy. It also needs to be borne in mind that India’s foreign policy is not a simple amalgam of responses to the exigencies of international relations. For whatever reasons—size of area, population, economy, leadership, etc.—India has consistently sought to influence the course of
Structure 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Introduction Political Realist and ‘Complex Neo-realist’Approaches to India’s Foreign Policy Perspective of Interdependence and Complex Interdependence New World Order Non-alignment and the Nehruvian Consensus Summary Exercises
2.1
INTRODUCTION
Literature on Indian foreign policy offers a range of approaches to the study of the subject. They range from traditional approaches based on the theories of realism and neo-realism, interdependence and complex interdependence to approaches that are rooted in the domestic cultural and socio-political ethos centred on the historical experiences and of Indian freedom movement as well as the ideals and aspirations of the leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru of India’s freedom struggle. At the outset two points need to be stressed. In the first place, while each one of the approaches helps us in an understanding, India’s foreign policy can, and need, better be studied from an eclectic perspective. No single approach would suffice for an understanding of the complexities of the making and conduct of India’s foreign policy. Besides, in the available literature there obtains a quality, which is native to the country. Nor for that matter, policy-makers and practitioners have and would ever fit their practices into rigid theoretical framework. A perusal of the varieties of approaches nevertheless offers useful insights to the principles and ideals, mechanisms and instruments, and the actors and forces that have come to frame the objectives and devise appropriate instruments for the formulation and implementation of the country’s foreign policy. It also needs to be borne in mind that India’s foreign policy is not a simple amalgam of responses to the exigencies of international relations. For whatever reasons—size of area, population, economy, leadership, etc.—India has consistently sought to influence the course of