The Engagement of India

As India emerges as a significant global actor, diverse states have sought to engage India with divergent agendas and interests. Some states aspire to improve their relations with New Delhi, while others pursue the transformation of Indian foreign policy—and even India itself—to suit their interests. The Engagement of India explores the strategies that key states have employed to engage and shape the relationship with a rising and newly vibrant India, their successes and failures, and Indian responses—positive, ambivalent, and sometimes hostile—to engagement. A multinational team of contributors examine the ways in which Australia, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States have each sought to engage India for various purposes, explore the ways in which India has responded, and assess India’s own strategies to engage with Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Central Asian republics.

This informative analysis of the foreign relations of a key rising power, and first comparative study of engagement strategies, casts light on the changing nature of Indian foreign policy and the processes that shape its future. The Engagement of India should be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, diplomacy, and South Asia.