Domestic Roots of India's Foreign Policy, 1947-1972

The force with which independent India made her views on international affairs known and acted upon in the period 1947-70 deserves close and critical study. What were the factors that enabled an economically weak nation to formulate an independent foreign policy that fitted not only her own needs, but those of the post-war world so greatly? What in particular were the indigenous elements that gave Indian foreign policy such international influence, especially in the 1950s?

The author has isolated five specifically Indian elements: the traditional belief in non-violence which he directly links with panchsheel (the five principles of peaceful co-existence); India being a secular state, which reinforced her views and practice of non-alignment and co-existence, not only with the capitalist and socialist blocs, but with the Arab States and Israel; the strongly socialist bias that the Indian National Congress had evinced from the 1930s onwards, which necessarily led to good diplomatic and cultural relations with the U.S.S.R. and other socialist countries; the impact of federalism on the foreign policy of a state; and finally, and perhaps of greatest significance, the personality and ability of Jawaharlal Nehru himself. Nehru's mixture of idealism and nationalism, combined with a fundamentally pragmatic approach to the problems faced by a country which valued political independence, is dwelt upon at some length.

This volume sketches only the outlines of an important subject; but in doing so, it raises many questions within the framework it lays down. The book as a whole provides a comprehensive survey of Indian foreign policy.