The Making Of Indian Diplomacy

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.

Diplomacy is conventionally understood as a European invention that gained international traction through the spread of colonialism. Consequently, scholars believe the moment of India's colonial liberation was in fact a false dawn, for the liberated, having internalized a European logic, mimicked Western practice. Postcolonial Indians are therefore anything but free. Abandoning this Eurocentric model, Deep K. Datta-Ray investigates what actually happens inside a foreign ministry, based on unique participant observation within India's bureaucracy. His findings reveal practices deeply confounding to Western diplomats and academics, because they defy the parameters of known models. To explain these practices, Datta-Ray develops a framework for understanding the ideas within which Indian diplomacy operates. He traces the transformation of diplomacy from Mughal times to the present, outlining the concepts underpinning Indian foreign policy, which disclose abiding continuities within Indian diplomacy from the days of the Mahabharata to nuclear policy. In doing so, he not only challenges the received wisdom on diplomacy but also reframes common conceptions of the Indian state.

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.

This Is The First Major Attempt To Analyse The Whole Gamut Of India'S Foreign Policy Since Independence. Combining Different Methodological Apparaches, The Author Has Divded The Book In Three Different Part. This First Is Devoted To The Factors That Determine The Country'S Foreign Policy. The Second Part Is Devoted To The Four Goals That Are The Very Basis Of India'S Vis-A-Vis The Outside World. These Are Security, Modernisation, Regional Hegemony And International Role-Playing. The Book Defines Each Of These Goals, And Analyses Their Evolution From The Past. The Third Part Pertains To Ecision Making. (Also Read: Inside Diplomacy, Revised Paperback Edition By Ambassador Kishan S. Rana, Details Inside)