Indian Diplomacy

How has India’s foreign policy evolved in the seventy years since Independence? For that matter, what is the country’s foreign policy? And what are the aspects that determine and shape it? If you’ve had questions such as these, Rajendra Abhyankar’s Indian Diplomacy is the foreign policy primer you’ve been looking for. Charting the country’s interactions with other countries from the early days of independence to now, Indian Diplomacy reviews the changes in stance. Lucidly written and well argued, the book covers these and other questions comprehensively, without fuss or bombast. A much-needed book in light of the sweeping changes on the global stage—and India’s increasing role in them. General reader, politicians, historians, and journalists who specialize in foreign policy and contemporary politics as well as think tanks and policymakers

Introduction -- Delusive utopia -- Irrepressible present -- Theorizing the uncontainable -- Inverted 'history' -- Death of diplomacy -- Diplomacy reborn -- Violence of ignorance -- Conclusions: In the shadow of power politics.

Reproduced in this two-volume set are hundreds of treaties and agreements made by Indian nations--with, among others, the Continental Congress; England, Spain, and other foreign countries; the ephemeral Republic of Texas and the Confederate States; railroad companies seeking rights-of-way across Indian land; and other Indian nations. Many were made with the United States but either remained unratified by Congress or were rejected by the Indians themselves after the Senate amended them unacceptably. Many others are "agreements" made after the official--but hardly de facto--end of U.S. treaty making in 1871. With the help of chapter introductions that concisely set each type of treaty in its historical and political context, these documents effectively trace the evolution of American Indian diplomacy in the United States.

Rich with human detail and penetrating analysis, this insider account chronicles the remarkable negotiations between the United States and India after three nuclear devices shook the Thar Desert in 1998, initiating one of the most suspenseful diplomatic dramas of recent memory.

Though now largely a forgotten figure, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri was a celebrated Indian politician and diplomat in the early 20th Century. This book rehabilitates Sastri and offers a diplomatic biography of his years as India’s roving ambassador in the 1920s.

The Book is a window on Indian cultural diplomacy, which is set against the backdrop of its ethos of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (The World is a Family). It is pivoted to the 'Idea of India' that gets manifested through acceptance of diversity and celebration of pluralism. The Book in 15 chapters under 8 sections provides a comprehensive picture on the concept of cultural diplomacy; its relationship with public diplomacy and soft power; its place in the diplomatic architecture and its growing centrality. Unlike soft power, cultural diplomacy is not in the paradigm of power. The Book also provides an in depth study on the origins and evolution of Indian cultural diplomacy over the years. It reviews the role of the Ministries of Culture and External Affairs and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). It examines various instrumentalities, such as Cultural Agreements, Festivals of India, Cultural Centres and Chairs of Indian Studies, used by India, to achieve its objectives. The role played by Education, Media and Diaspora, as bridge builders is evaluated. The Book peeps into global cultural hubs, like the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and the working of cultural diplomacy at grassroots level at Chandigarh and Chicago. Two chapters in the Book look at the operation of cultural diplomacy in the Indian diplomatic missions and foreign diplomatic missions in India. This adds a practical dimension to the conceptual framework, as seen by practitioners of diplomacy. The final chapter provides an overview on the existing reality. A section on 'The Way Ahead' makes a number of practical recommendations in five clusters, to take cultural diplomacy to a higher plateau. Finally, it raises a set of pertinent issues and points for consideration by theoreticians and practitioners of cultural diplomacy. The Book would serve as a useful reference point for further studies, as it fills the existing void in the literature on cultural diplomacy.