1st Edition
Is India's Foreign Policy Contradictory? Understanding Modern Diplomacy through a New Lens
Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Background
a) Morality in Indian Foreign Policy
b) An Indian Notion of Sovereignty
1.2 Literature Review
a) Evolution of sovereignty in Western Political Thought
b) Sovereignty and India’s Postcolonial Identity
c) Sovereignty and India’s Foreign Policy
1.3 Definition, Rationale and Scope
1.4. Chapters
Chapter 2. Understanding Sovereignty: Conception and Evolution
2.1 Introduction
a) The Problem with defining sovereignty
b) Sovereignty as an inevitable concept
c) Sovereignty as a contested concept
2.2 The Theoretical evolution of Sovereignty: Traditional Approaches
2.3 Sovereignty and Representation: The Genealogy and Semiotics of Sovereignty according to Bartleson
2.4 Sovereignty and Simulation: Cynthia Weber on State Sovereignty and Symbolic Exchange
a) Historicizing IR Theory
b) How international boundaries are legitimized
c) Baudrillard’s orders of simulation
d) Reality and Recognition of a Hyperreality
2.5 Conclusion
Chapter 3. Sovereignty, humanitarian interventions and the Indian foreign policy
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Continuity and Change in IFP before 1971
3.3 Liberating Bangladesh
3.4 India and R2P
3.5 How India’s position on R2P developed over time
3.5 India’s response to the Libyan crisis
3.6 Mainstream response to India’s R2P position
3.7 India’s response to the Syrian crisis
3.8 Conclusion
Chapter 4. From non-alignment to strategic autonomy: Explaining India’s aversion to alliances
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Towards an independent foreign policy
4.3 A moralistic approach to diplomacy and Indian exceptionalism
4.4 The role of ‘destiny’ in discourse and India’s rightful place
4.5 Non-alignment post Nehru
4.6 The Apparent Contradictions: Black November in 1962, the Indo-US Air Defense Agreement of 1963, and the 1971 Pact with USSR
4.7 Shift to strategic autonomy
4.7 Conclusion
Chapter 5. Asserting Sovereignty and Status: India and Disarmament
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Nuclear weapons as a means of asserting strategic autonomy
5.3 Disarmament and Discrimination in Indian Discourse
5.4 Peaceful Nuclear Explosion
5.5 1998 Nuclear Tests: Beyond Justifications
5.6 Conclusion
Chapter 6. Conclusion
Bibliography
Biography
Manasi Pritam holds a PhD in diplomacy and disarmament studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has extensive experience in the field of IR as a scholar, a lecturer at Delhi University, and as a consultant with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. She has published papers and articles on topics relating to foreign policy and security in reputed international publications like India Review, The Diplomat, and Nikkei Asian Review.
“Having worked closely with Dr. Manasi Pritam during her tenure at the Ministry of External Affairs, I have seen firsthand her ability to connect diplomatic practice with conceptual thinking. This book reflects that strength.
Through a careful analysis of India’s positions on non-alignment, humanitarian intervention, and nuclear policy, she demonstrates that Indian foreign policy is neither incoherent nor merely rhetorical. Instead, it is a sustained effort to assert sovereignty, signal strategic autonomy, and shape a distinct vision of India’s role in the world.
The work will be particularly valuable for readers seeking to explore and understand the rationale behind India’s diplomatic choices, by bridging the gap between theory and practice.”
- Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Former Foreign Secretary of India
“Is India’s Foreign Policy Contradictory? comes as a tour de force that artfully fuses conceptual rigour with empirical depth; combining the author’s doctoral research with her over three years stint with India’s Ministry of External Affairs. Moving deftly from Western theories of sovereignty to India’s postcolonial practices, it mobilises works of celebrated scholars like Jens Bartelson, Cynthia Weber, Jean Baudrillard to reinterpret India’s take on critical themes like humanitarian intervention, strategic autonomy, and nuclear choices. A theoretically sophisticated, politically urgent contribution to Indian foreign policy scholarship.”
- Professor Swaran Singh, Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organisation, and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University
“I worked with Ms. Manasi when she was a Consultant at the Foreign Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, and I came to value how naturally she looks past the immediate pressures of policy to the longer story behind India’s diplomacy. This book carries that same perspective.
Instead of stopping at description, she asks bigger questions about how India has shaped an independent voice in world affairs and how it has argued for a more equitable international order. She takes up three themes in particular; non-alignment, India’s approach to humanitarian intervention, and the evolution of its nuclear position and brings them together in a way that will add depth to the usual strategic commentary.
Practitioners and scholars alike will find this a thoughtful, well-grounded study. It helps explain why India so often frames its choices in the language of responsibility, restraint, and reform, even when the international system is defined by power asymmetries. An important addition to the study and practice of India’s Foreign Policy.”
- Ambassador Sumit Seth, Indian Ambassador to Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
