India and the Cold War

Contributors draw on a wide array of new material from recently opened archival sources to literature and film and meld approaches from diplomatic history to development studies to explain the choices India made and to frame the decisions by its policymakers. Together the essays demonstrate how India became a powerful symbol of decolonization and an advocate of non-alignment disarmament and global governance as it stood between the United States and the Soviet Union actively fostering dialogue and attempting to forge friendships without entering into formal alliances. Sweeping in its scope yet nuanced in its analysis this is the authoritative account of India and the Cold War. Review 'This book presents a compelling and fascinating narrative of diplomacy and power politics against the backdrop of the early and middle Cold War years of peace making and economic development and also the cultural terrain that transgressed political boundaries. The formulation and deployment of India's foreign policy options against the pull and push of globally competing ideological forces is delineated in detail. The grim realities of international power politics confronting a new Republic facing formidable challenges of territorial consolidation and economic underdevelopment are vividly recalled. The play of virtuous purpose and pragmatic national interest in the theatre of conflict disarmament and competing models of economic development is probed in depth. This is a book that enlightens and explains. It is a gripping story of independent India's historic coming into the modern world' -- Nirupama Rao former foreign secretary and Indian ambassador to China and the United States'Given India's rapidly growing importance on the international stage there is obvious need to understand the historical origins of its worldview the goals that have driven its actions and its sense of constraints and opportunities. This work fulfills that need presented accessibly and with close attention to craft and detail' -- Sunil Khilnani King’s India Institute London'Featuring well-established scholars as well as a range of younger voices who are making a significant mark this is a path-breaking volume that brings together essays on global history geopolitics political economy and culture' -- Kanti Bajpai National University of Singapore'This collection delivers even more than the title suggests. It gathers together a new generation of scholars from around the globe to explore India's place in the Cold War world from poetry to summitry and from the optimism of the 1940s to the Emergency of the 1970s-and beyond. Full of insight and information it is essential reading for anyone interested in Indian foreign relations' -- David Engerman author of The Price of Aid: The Economic Cold War in India About the Author Manu Bhagavan is professor of history and human rights at the Hunter College and the Graduate Center-the City University of New York.