India Foreign Relations

INDIA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS reflect a traditional policy of nonalignment, the exigencies of

domestic economic reform and development, and the changing post-Cold War international
environment. India's relations with the world have evolved considerably since the British
colonial period (1757-1947), when a foreign power monopolized external relations and defense
relations. On independence in 1947, few Indians had experience in making or conducting foreign
policy. However, the country's oldest political party, the Indian National Congress (the Congress--
see Glossary), had established a small foreign department in 1925 to make overseas contacts and to
publicize its freedom struggle. From the late 1920s on, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had the most long-
standing interest in world affairs among independence leaders, formulated the Congress stance on
international issues. As a member of the interim government in 1946, Nehru articulated India's
approach to the world.

During Nehru's tenure as prime minister of India (1947-64), he achieved a domestic consensus on
the definition of Indian national interests and foreign policy goals--building a unified and integrated
nation-state based on secular, democratic principles; defending Indian territory and protecting its
security interests; guaranteeing India's independence internationally through nonalignment; and
promoting national economic development unencumbered by over reliance on any country or group
of countries. These objectives were closely related to the determinants of India's foreign relations:
the historical legacy of South Asia; India's geopolitical position and security requirements; and
India's economic needs as a large developing nation. From 1947 until the late 1980s, New Delhi's
foreign policy goals enabled it to achieve some successes in carving out an independent
international role. Regionally, India was the predominant power because of its size, its population
(the world's second-largest after China), and its growing military strength. However, relations
with its neighbors, Pakistan in particular, were often tense and fraught with conflict. In addition,
globally India's nonaligned stance was not a viable substitute for the political and economic role it
wished to play.

India's international influence varied over the years after independence. Indian prestige and moral
authority were high in the 1950s and facilitated the acquisition of developmental assistance from
both East and West. Although the prestige stemmed from India's nonaligned stance, the nation was
unable to prevent Cold War politics from becoming intertwined with interstate relations in South
Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Delhi's international position among developed and developing
countries faded in the course of wars with China and Pakistan, disputes with other countries in
South Asia, and India's attempt to balance Pakistan's support from the United States and China by
signing the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
Although India obtained substantial Soviet military and economic aid, which helped to strengthen
the nation, India's influence was undercut regionally and internationally by the perception that its
friendship with the Soviet Union prevented a more forthright condemnation of the Soviet presence
in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, New Delhi improved relations with the United States, other
developed countries, and China while continuing close ties with the Soviet Union. Relations
with its South Asian neighbors, especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, occupied much of the
energies of the Ministry of External Affairs.

In the 1990s, India's economic problems and the demise of the bipolar world political system have
forced New Delhi to reassess its foreign policy and to adjust its foreign relations. Previous policies
proved inadequate to cope with the serious domestic and international problems facing India. The
end of the Cold War gutted the core meaning of nonalignment and left Indian foreign policy
without significant direction. The hard, pragmatic considerations of the early 1990s were still
viewed within the nonaligned framework of the past, but the disintegration of the Soviet
Union removed much of India's international leverage, for which relations with Russia and the
other post-Soviet states could not compensate.

Pragmatic security, economic considerations, and domestic political influences have reinforced
New Delhi's reliance on the United States and other developed countries; caused New Delhi to
abandon its anti-Israeli policy in the Middle East; and resulted in the courtship of the Central
Asian republics and the newly industrializing economies of East and Southeast Asia. Although
India shares the concerns of Russia, China, and many members of the Nonaligned Movement (see
Glossary) about the preeminent position of the United States and other developed countries,
different national interests and perceptions make it improbable that India can turn cooperation with
these countries to its advantage on most international issues. Furthermore, although Cold War
politics have ceased to be a factor in South Asia, the most intractable problems in India's relations
with Pakistan--conflict over Kashmir, support for separatists, and nuclear and ballistic missile
programs--still face the two countries. India foreign relations - 1995 loc data