This document discusses India's foreign policy from independence in 1947 to the present day. It focuses on the policy of non-alignment pursued by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru adopted non-alignment for both material reasons, like India's economic needs and security concerns with neighboring countries, as well as spiritual reasons like being against imperialism and believing both capitalism and communism had merits. Non-alignment aimed to keep India out of any military alliances and maximize cooperation with all countries. While subsequent leaders made some adjustments, India has largely kept the basic objectives of Nehru's foreign policy approach.

1. ARTICLE TITLE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS TO CAPITALISM
A country's foreign policy also called foreign relations policy consists of self interest
strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve goals within its
international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with
other countries. The study of such strategies is called foreign policy analysis. In recent time
due to the deepening level of globalization and transnational activities the states will also
have to interact with non-state actors. The aforementioned interaction is evaluated and
monitored in attempts to maximize benefits of multilateral international cooperation. Since
the national interests are paramount, foreign policies are designed by the government through
high-level decision making processes. National interest’s accomplishment can occur as a
result of peaceful cooperation with other nations or through exploitation.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle described humans as social animals. Therefore
friendships and relations have existed between humans since the beginning of human
interaction. As the organization developed in human affairs relations between people also
organized. Foreign policy thus goes back to primitive times. The inception in human affairs
of foreign relations and the need for foreign policy to deforming policy is plan of action
adopted by one nation in regards to its diplomatic dealings with other countries. Foreign
policy is established as a systemic way to deal with issues that may arise with other countries.
In the modern era no country can afford to live in isolation in this age of interdependence.al
with them is as old as the organization of human life in groups. Foreign policy is plan of
action adopted by one nation in regards to its diplomatic dealings with other countries. Global
wars were fought three times in the twentieth century. Consequently international relations
became a public concern as well as an important field of study and research. After the Second
World War and during the 1960 many researchers in the U.S. particularly and from other
countries in common brought forth a wealth of research work and theory. Gradually various
theories began to grow around the international relations international systems and
international politics but the need for a theory of foreign policy that is the starting point in
each sovereign state continued to receive negligible attention.
Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and
their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property capital
accumulation wage labor voluntary exchange a price system and competitive markets. In a
capitalist market economy decision-making and investment is determined by the owners of
the factors of production in financial and capital markets and prices and the distribution of
goods are mainly determined by competition in the market. Economists, political economists,
and historians have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have
recognized various forms of it in practice.

2. India's relations with the world have evolved since the British Raj (1857–1947) when
the British Empire monopolized external and defense relations. When India gained
independence in 1947 few Indians had experience in making or conducting foreign policy.
However the country oldest political party the Indian National Congress, had established a
small foreign department in 1925 to make overseas contacts and to publicize its independence
struggle. From the late 1920 on, Jawaharlal, who had a 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.
India’s international influence varied over the years after independence. Indian prestige
and moral authority were high in the 1950 and facilitated the acquisition of developmental
assistance from both East and West. In the 1990, India's economic problems and the demise
of the bipolar world political system forced India to reassess its foreign policy and 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.
When India became independent on August 15, 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became her
first Prime Minister. For long seventeen years (1947-1964) he remained in power and during
this long period he was the central figure of India’s foreign policy making. It was Nehru ji
who framed and guided the Foreign Policy of India.
To Pandit Nehru non-alignment was the corner stone of India’s foreign policy. He adopted
this policy for various reasons which may be divided into material and immaterial or spiritual
reasons. The geographical and economic condition of India just after independence served as
the material reasons for his favoring the policy of non-alignment. India’s next door neighbor
on one side is People’s Republic of China and on the other is Pakistan the arch enemy of
India since her very emancipation from the British yoke. Nehru could easily realize that if
India joins any of these two blocks she would bring the rage of the other on her. It was indeed
a crucial problem for the newly independent India and so he had chosen the path of non-
alignment. Moreover, in order to guard her saturated post-independent economic condition
India seriously needed the co-operation of both the big powers, U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. and their
satellites the developed countries of Europe. Her entry into one bloc would not only make the
members of the other bloc hostile to her interest but also might jeopardize her very
independence. For this economic consideration India was really interested to extend her trade
relation with the other countries of the world irrespective of their ideological difference.
The spiritual cause was also there. Traditionally, India was always against imperialism as
because she had the bitter experience of colonial rule. That was why India shook off all
pressure from within and without and remained non-aligned. Moreover, from the core of his
heart Nehru believed that both the ideologies capitalism and communism have some good
qualities and merits and as such it would be unjust to accept one and discard the other. Hence
through his policy of non-alignment he wanted to bring solidarity among the people of India
who had different religious faith, language, culture and life style. His adherence to the policy
of non-alignment thus served the purpose of national integration.

3. Nehru was against all military alliances balance of power and mad rush for exhibiting
military strength. Hence he declared that the policy of non-alignment came to signify a
refusal to be mere political and economic appendages of the centers of military, political and
economic power. We are in no camp, he said, and in no military alliance. The only camp we
should like to be in is the camp of peace which should include as many countries as possible.
Hence he stood against the principles of imperialism colonialism non-colonialism and the
apartheid policy. At that time the apartheid policy followed by the South African government
run by the white people had created great commotion throughout the world. Instead he had
dreamt of creating Asian unity and it was for him that the first Asian States Conference held
in India. In order to make cordial relationship with China he had propagated jointly with
China the ideology of Panchashila which categorically declared that it would be the duty of
the Asian states to extend mutual respect for the geographical unity and sovereignty of the
other state not to interfere into the internal affairs of the other state to respect equality of all,
to extend mutual advantages and to promote peaceful co-existence.
It was mainly on his initiative the Asian countries met in the Bandung Conference. His policy
of non-alignment soon received so much appreciation from the newly emancipated Afro-
Asian and Latin-American countries that joined it unhesitatingly. Soon it took the shape of a
movement the nonaligned movement (NAM) which even be two powerful blocks of
capitalism and communism of USA and USSR respectively had to respect. The movement
was headed by Nehru, Tito and Nasser and it aimed at democratizing the international
relation and to establish equality based state order of high standard. He established cordial
relationship with USSR and the West European democratic countries and joined the
Common-wealth, though he showed less attention towards India’s relationship with the
South-East Asian countries yet he was a staunch advocate of international peace and co-
operation and pleaded for disarmament. However during the fag end of his premiership in
1962, China attacked India.
During the reign of his successors Lal Bahadur Sastri and Mrs. Indira Gandhi, India was
twice attacked by Pakistan once in 1965 and the other in 1971. Lal Bahadur Sastri followed
Nehru’s foreign policy. Smt. Gandhi was more practical and gave stress on the preservation
of National interest. She made India more self-reliant and dragged her into the atomic age.
She helped Bangladesh to win her freedom in 1971 and at the same time improved India’s
relation with China, Pakistan and the Arab countries.
After the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi the subsequent governments under the Premiership or
Mr. Morarji Desai, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. Narasimha Rao, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, Mr.
Devagauda, Mr. I.K. Gujral or Mr. Monmohan Singh kept the basic objectives of Indian
Foreign policy unaltered. The cold war situation no more exists and Communist Russia is
also broken. Yet India’s Foreign policy still basically stands on the platform where Mr. Nehru
left it. Only slight moderation has been made and they have made the policy sounder.
Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights including property
rights in which all property is privately owned. The recognition of individual rights entails

4. the banishment of physical force from human relationships basically rights can be violated
only by means of force. In a capitalist society no man or group may initiate the use of
physical force against others. The only function of the government in such a society is the
task of protecting man rights the task of protecting him from physical force the government
acts as the agent of man right of self-defense and may use force only in retaliation and only
against those who initiate its use thus the government is the means of placing the retaliatory
use of force under objective control.
Eight years of independence India foreign policy still gives rise to grave doubts in the
Western mind. The reason for this is the acceptance of old definitions rather than an
appreciation of the country background and its human aspirations.
At the time of the founding of the Soviet Union (the USSR) in 1922, most governments
internationally regarded the Soviet régime as a pariah because of its advocacy
of communism, and thus most states did not give it diplomatic recognition. Less than a
quarter century later the Soviet Union not only had official relations with the majority of the
nation-states of the world, but had progressed to the role of a superpower.
By 1945 the USSR a founding member of the United Nations had become one of the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council, giving it the right to veto any of the
Security Council's resolutions Soviet Union and the United Nations. During the Cold War,
the Soviet Union vied with the United States of America for geopolitical influence this
competition manifested itself in numerous treaties and pacts dealing with military
alliances and trade agreements, and in proxy wars and proxy war is a conflict between two
nations where neither country directly engages the other. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs headed Soviet foreign policy. Andrei Gromyko served as the Soviet Minister of
Foreign Affairs for nearly thirty years (1957–1985).
According to Soviet theorists, the basic character of Soviet foreign policy was set forth in
Vladimir Le adopted by the Second Congress of Soviets in November 1917. It set forth the
dual nature of Soviet foreign policy, which encompasses both proletarian internationalism
and peaceful coexistence. On the one hand, proletarian internationalism refers to the common
cause of the working classes of all countries in struggling to overthrow the bourgeoisie and to
establish communist regimes. Peaceful coexistence, on the other hand, refers to measures to
ensure relatively peaceful government to-government relations with capitalist states. Both
policies can be pursued simultaneously "Peaceful coexistence does not rule out but
presupposes determined opposition to imperialist aggression and support for peoples
defending their revolutionary gains or fighting foreign oppression.
The Soviet commitment in practice to proletarian internationalism declined since the
founding of the Soviet state, although this component of ideology still had some effect on
later formulation and execution of Soviet foreign policy. Although pragmatic raisons
undoubtedly accounted for much of more recent Soviet foreign policy, the ideology of class
struggle still played a role in providing a worldview and certain loose guidelines for action in

5. the 1980. Marxist–Leninist ideology reinforces other characteristics of political culture that
create an attitude of competition and conflict with other states.
The general foreign policy goals of the Soviet Union were formalized in a party program
ratified by delegates to the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress in February–March 1986.
According to the program, "the main goals and guidelines of the CPSU's international policy"
included ensuring favorable external conditions conducive to building communism in the
Soviet Union eliminating the threat of world war disarmament strengthening the "world
socialist system" developing "equal and friendly" relations with "liberated" Third World
countries peaceful coexistence with the capitalist countries and solidarity with communist
and revolutionary-democratic parties, the international workers' movement, and national
liberation struggles.
Although these general foreign policy goals were apparently conceived in terms of priorities,
the emphasis and ranking of the priorities have changed over time in response to domestic
and international stimuli. After Mikhail Gorbachev became general Secretary of the
Communist Party in 1985, for instance, some Western analysts discerned in the ranking of
priorities a possible de-emphasis of Soviet support for national liberation movements.
Although the emphasis and ranking of priorities were subject to change, two basic goals of
Soviet foreign policy remained constant national security safeguarding Communist Party rule
through internal control and the maintenance of adequate military forces and, since the late
1940, influence over Eastern Europe.
Many Western analysts have examined the way Soviet behavior in various regions and
countries supported the general goals of Soviet foreign policy. These analysts have assessed
Soviet behavior in the 1970 and 1980 as placing primary emphasis on relations with the
United States, which was considered the foremost threat to the national security of the Soviet
Union. Second priority was given to relations with Eastern Europe the other members of
the Warsaw Pact and Western Europe the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization NATO. Third priority was given to the littoral states along the southern border
of the Soviet Union Turkey a NATO member, Iran, Afghanistan, People's Republic of
China, Mongolia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea North Korea, and Japan.
Regions near to, but not bordering, the Soviet Union were assigned fourth priority. These
included the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Last priority was
given to sub-Saharan Africa, the islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Latin America,
except insofar as these regions either provided opportunities for strategic basing or bordered
on strategic naval straits or sea lanes. In general, Soviet foreign policy was most concerned
with superpower relations and, more broadly, relations between the members of NATO and
the Warsaw Pact, but during the 1980 Soviet leaders pursued improved relations with all
regions of the world as part of its foreign policy objectives.

6. Why 1990 is important for structural change in international politics
The Berlin wall, the symbol of the cold war fall down in 1989. The fall of Berlin wall brought
many changes in international politics. After end of cold war, gained get not only western
countries but also Asian countries such as India and China also got profit. Suddenly collapse
of USSR (Soviet Union) brought a great strategic advantages for China. Some countries lost
power but many others countries got power after cold war. After cold war, Asia
became main creditor and economically power with fast growing market, fastest rising
military power and most variable hot spots, .European’s countries also get power but not
more than Asian’s coup entries The economy of Asia continent is growing very fast. Asian’s
countries face complex security, energy and development challenges with larger interstate
competition in this era of globalization. After the cold war and Berlin wall crisis, the
development was shift from the military power to a significant role for economic power in
extending international geopolitics. The global power was not shifted by the military
triumphs or geopolitics reassessment rather a unique factor played very important called
“rapid economic growth”. During the industrial revolution, economic growth played very
important role. After the end of cold war, increase their foreign investment and trade with
other global institutions. It was emergence with the world’s biggest trade surplus, largest
foreign reserves and highest steel production. After the "Tiananmen Square massacre” which
was considered as an anti-government movement that happened in the
capital,China brought many changes in the world scenario. It withdrew western countries fro
m trade withchina. But despite this weak relation with the western world, China had seen a
tremendous economic growth through trade and commerce with Afro Asian countries. Today,
China is set to displace Japan as the second largest economy in the world.
The economy of India also changed after the end of cold war. India’s economy rise as new
economy huge. India was mostly did trade with the USSR (Soviet Union) and its communist
allies in Eastern Europe. The trade between USSR and India was commodity exchange, not
cash. After the end of cold war, when USSR started to divide into many parts then, India had
to starting pay for imports in cash.
Then, India’s modest foreign exchange reserves decrease rapidly. Result, India faced severe
balance of payments crisis in 1991. After, this financial crisis, forced to India for start radical
economic reforms. These economic reforms helped to rise economy of India. In 1989, the
emblematic defeat of Marxian allowed to Asian countries such as India and China for overtly
follow capitalist policies. While, under the Chinese communist party, leader of Deng
Xiaoping, china’s economic modernization reforms already started. He helped to create great
wealth, which helped to get good economic growth for china. The activity of communist
party in china, helped to get good position of communist parties in other parts of Asia and
beyond. Cold war play very important role Indian foreign policy.
After the end of cold war, the Indian’s policy of non
alignment became redundant. India faced terrible development challenge. The end of cold wa
r brought a foreign policy crisis for India by the India’s most significant partner, the USSR
(Soviet Union).But, in economic view, that crisis brought positive effect for India. That crisis

7. helped to India for recover its foreign policy. That crisis, forced to India for leave traditional
activity. After the cold war, India started to make a mutuality and beneficiary relationship
such as Indo-US relationship, with the significant countries and Asia such as Japan and
beyond such as European power and it is not easy that Russia remains India’s good friend.
In recent years, Indian’s economy paid attention to world for its economic growth. The fall of
Berlin wall, India get opportunities for new relationship and partnerships and keeping old
friends.
It was biggest challenge that it's trusted partner and friend “USSR (soviet union) left. USSR
was very important for India because it supplied weapons, spare parts, diplomatic support on
Kashmir issues and other issues. The economic crisis forced to India for restart and liberalize
its economy and open market for private sector for investment. These factor seriously put
effect on Indian politics and economy. The end of cold war and the collapse of the USSR
(Soviet Union) set a great path of Asian’s countries profile in international level.
Fall of Berlin wall and end of cold war, India emerged as an identity country. These activity
helped to India to go closest with Europe and US. World become a one parts, so India and
western countries came together at one place. The end of cold war helped India to transform
from a developing countries to an emerging power economies. It is big challenge for India
to become a great power in Asia because it’s get big challenge with another Asian countries
such as China and Japan. Kashmir issues become a big challenge for Indian’s foreign policy
because Pakistan and many others countries put blamed on India for violence on human
beings. Fall of Berlin wall and end of cold war, were not a signaled an end of conflict and
problems and spread political and economic liberalism in the world. All countries is coming
together to fight new conflict and problems such as climate change, terrorism, nuclear
problem and other problems. It helped to set up new kind of global politics. After the changes
in regional and global level, two Asian power rise, china and India with strong economic
performance and growing political power and changing Asian power structure. India sits
on big reserves of power but there is some limit which put effect on this power. India faces
some serious challenges such as poverty, population explosion, lack of good infrastructure.
These challenges put effect on India to making soft power.
Objects of India’s foreign policy
Foreign policy makers set out certain objects before they proceed to determine principles of
foreign policy. Several these objects are down basic principles and formulate principles.
The primary propose of any country’s foreign policy is to promote its national interests such
assure to its security, achievement of world peace, disarmament, economic development. The
goal of India’s foreign policy are promotion of international peace and security.

8. India’s foreign policy objects maintain friendly relations with other countries and avoid
military alliance.
National interest has been the governing principle of India’ foreign policy even at the time ,of
Nehru who was inspired by the ideal of world peace, toleration and mutual respect among
nations. In operational terms, the idea of national interest takes the form of concrete
objectives of foreign policy.
According to Appadorai and M. S. Rajan, there are three fundamental objectives of India’s
Foreign policy:
1. The preservation of India’s territorial integrity and independence of foreign policy:
The territorial integrity and protection of national boundaries from foreign aggression is the
core interest of a nation. India had gained a hard earned independence from foreign rule after
long time. Thus, it was natural for her to give due emphasis on the independence of foreign
policy. India’s effort to strengthen Afro-Asian solidarity endorsement of principles of non-
interference, in the internal affairs of other nations and finally the adoption of the policy of
non-alignment should be seen in this light.
2. Promoting international peace and security:
India as a ‘newly independent and developing country rightly realized that international peace
and development are correlated. Her emphasis on disarmament and the policy of keeping
away from the military alliances is intended to promote global peace.
3. Economic development of India:
Fast development of the country was the fundamental requirement of India at the time of
independence. It was also required to strengthen the democracy and freedom in the country In
order to gain financial resources and technology from both blocks and to concentrate her
energy on the development, India opted away from the power block politics, which was the
defining feature of cold war international politics.
BEFORE WORLD WAR II
It is possible to detect three distinct phases in Soviet foreign policy between the conclusion of
the Russian Civil War and the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939, determined in part by political
struggles within the USSR, and in part by dynamic developments in international relations
and the effect these had on Soviet security.
Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, once in power, believed their October Revolution would
ignite the world's socialists and lead to a "World Revolution." Lenin set up the Communist
International to export revolution to the rest of Europe and Asia. Indeed, Lenin set out to
liberate all of Asia from imperialist and capitalist control.

9. The first priority for Soviet foreign policy was Europe, above all Germany, which was the
country that Lenin most admired and thought most ready for revolution. The historian Robert
Service noted that Lenin and the other Bolshevik leaders had a very idealized picture of
Germany that bore little relation to reality. Lenin was most disappointed when, following the
October Revolution, a similar revolution did not break out in Germany as he had expected
and hoped for, forcing him to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 to take Russia
out of World War I. Brest-Litovsk was an immense shock to the Bolsheviks, and afterwards a
new policy emerged of both seeking pragmatic co-operation with the Western powers when it
suited Soviet interests while at the same time trying to promote a Communist revolution
whenever possible. In the immediate aftermath of World War I, the Soviets encouraged
Communist uprisings in Germany and saw briefly establish the Hungarian Soviet
Republic. Had it not been for the Russian Civil War, Lenin would have sent the Red
Army into Central Europe into 1919 to export Communism. After the failure of these efforts,
Lenin, assuming that capitalism was not going to collapse at once as he had hoped, made a
major effort in the early 1920 to lure German corporations into investing in the Soviet Union
as a way of modernizing the country. Lenin's Germanophilia was controversial within the
Bolsheviks, with many of his colleagues complaining that he went too far with his liking for
all things German. As part of the effort to join a German-Soviet alliance, the Soviets signed
the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922.
Lenin's plans failed, although Russia did manage to hold onto the Central Asian and
Caucasian domains that had been part of the Russian Empire. The revolutionary stage ended
after the Soviet defeat in the war with Poland in 1921. As Europe's revolutions were crushed
and revolutionary zeal dwindled, the Bolsheviks shifted their ideological focus from
the world revolution and building socialism around the globe to building socialism inside the
Soviet Union, while keeping some of the rhetoric and operations of the Commenter
continuing. In the mid-1920, a policy of peaceful co-existence began to emerge, with Soviet
diplomats attempting to end the country's isolation, and concluding bilateral arrangements
with capitalist governments. Agreement was reached with Germany, Europe's other pariah of
the day, in the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922.
There were, however, still those in the Soviet government, most notably Leon Trotsky, who
argued for the continuation of the revolutionary process, in terms of his theory of Permanent
Revolution. After Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky and the internationalists were opposed
by Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin, who developed the notion of Socialism in One
Country. The foreign policy counterpart of Socialism in One Country was that of the United
Front, with foreign Communists urged to enter into alliances with reformist left-wing parties
and national liberation movements of all kinds. The high point of this strategy was the
partnership in China between the Chinese Communist Party and the nationalist Kuomintang,
a policy favored by Stalin in particular, and a source of bitter dispute between him and
Trotsky. The Popular Front policy in China effectively crashed to ruin in 1927, when

10. Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek massacred the native Communists and expelled all of
his Soviet advisors, notably Mikhail Borodin.
The following year, after defeating opponents from both the left led by Trotsky and Gregory
Zinoviev and the right, Stalin began the wholesale collectivization of Soviet agriculture,
accompanied by a major program of planned industrialization. This new radical phase was
paralleled by the formulation of a new doctrine in the International, that of the so-called Third
Period, an ultra-left switch in policy, which argued that social democracy, whatever shape it
took, was a form of social fascism, socialist in theory but fascist in practice. All foreign
Communist parties increasingly agents of Soviet policy were to concentrate their efforts in a
struggle against their rivals in the working-class movement, ignoring the threat of real
fascism. There were to be no united front's against a greater enemy. The catastrophic effects
of this policy, and the negative effect it had on Soviet security, was to be fully demonstrated
by Adolf Hitler's seizure of power in Germany in 1933, followed by the destruction of
the German Communist Party, the strongest in Europe. The Third Way and social fascism
were quickly dropped into the dustbin of history. Once again collaboration with other
progressive elements was the key, in the form of the Popular Front, which cast the net still
wider to embrace moderate bourgeois parties. Soviet–German cooperation, extensive until
1933, was now limited.
Hand-in-hand with the promotion of Popular Fronts, Maxim Litvinov, the Soviet Commissar
for Foreign Affairs between 1930 and 1939, aimed at closer alliances with Western
governments, and placed ever greater emphasis on collective security. The new policy led to
the Soviet Union joining the League of Nations in 1934 and the subsequent conclusion of
alliances with France and Czechoslovakia. In the League the Soviets were active in
demanding action against imperialist aggression, a particular danger to them after the
1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which eventually resulted in the Soviet-
Japanese Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
However, against the rise of militant fascism, the League was unlikely to accomplish very
much. Litvinov and others in the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs continued to conduct quiet
diplomatic initiatives with Nazi Germany, even as the USSR took a stand in trying to
preserve the Second Spanish Republic, and its Popular Front government, from the Fascist
rebellion of 1936. The Munich Agreement of 1938, the first stage in the dismemberment of
Czechoslovakia, gave rise to Soviet fears that they were likely to be abandoned in a possible
war with Germany. The Soviets no longer sought collective but individual security, and
the Pact with Hitler was signed, giving the Soviets protection from the most aggressive
European power and increasing the Soviet sphere of influence.
Role of the Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, promoted a strong personal role for the Prime
Minister but a weak institutional structure. Nehru served concurrently as Prime Minister and

11. Minister of External Affairs; he made all major foreign policy decisions himself after
consulting with his advisers and then entrusted the conduct of international affairs to senior
members of the Indian Foreign Service. He was the main founding fathers of
the Panchsheel or the five principles of peaceful co-existence. His successors continued to
exercise considerable control over India's international dealings, although they generally
appointed separate ministers of external affairs.
India's second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964–66), expanded the Prime Minister
Office (sometimes called the Prime Minister's Secretariat) and enlarged its powers. By the
1970, the Office of the Prime Minister had become the de facto coordinator and ministry of
the Indian government. The enhanced role of the office strengthened the prime minister's
control over foreign policy making at the expense of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Advisers in the office provided channels of information and policy recommendations in
addition to those offered by the Ministry of External Affairs. A subordinate part of the office
the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) functioned in ways that significantly expanded the
information available to the prime minister and his advisers. The RAW gathered intelligence,
provided intelligence analysis to the Office of the Prime Minister, and conducted covert
operations abroad.
The prime minister's control and reliance on personal advisers in the Office of the Prime
Minister was particularly strong under the tenures of Indira Gandhi (1966–77 and 1980–84)
and her son, Rajiv (1984–89), who succeeded her, and weaker during the periods of coalition
governments. Observers find it difficult to determine whether the locus of decision-making
authority on any particular issue lies with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Council of
Ministers, the Office of the Prime Minister, or the prime minister himself.
The Prime Minister is however free to appoint advisers and special committees to examine
various foreign policy options and areas of interest. In a recent instance, Manmohan
Singh appointed K. Subrahmanyam in 2005 to head a special government task force to study
Global Strategic Developments' over the next decade. The Task Force submitted its
conclusions to the Prime Minister in 2006. The report has not yet been released in the public
domain.
East Policy
In the post Cold War era a significant aspect of India's foreign policy is the Look East Policy.
During the cold war, India's relations with its South East Asian neighbors' was not very
strong. After the end of the cold war, the government of India particularly realized the
importance of redressing this imbalance in India's foreign policy. Consequently, the
Narsimha Rao government in the early nineties of the last century unveiled the look east
policy. Initially it focused on renewing political and economic contacts with the countries of
East and South-East Asia.
At present, under the Look East Policy, the Government of India is giving special emphasis
on the economic development of backward north eastern region of India taking advantage of
huge market of ASEAN as well as of the energy resources available in some of the member

12. countries of ASEAN like Burma. Look-east policy was launched in 1992 just after the end of
the cold war, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After the start of liberalization, it
was a very strategic policy decision taken by the government in the foreign policy. To quote
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "it was also a strategic shift in India's vision of the world
and India's place in the evolving global economy".
The policy was given an initial thrust with the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao visiting
China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore and India becoming an important
dialogue partner with ASEAN in 1992. Since the beginning of this century, India has given a
big push to this policy by becoming a summit level partner of ASEAN (2002) and getting
involved in some regional initiatives such as the BIMSTEC and the Ganga Mekong
Cooperation and now becoming a member of the East Asia Summit (EAS) in December,
2005.
India's relations with the world have evolved since the British Raj (1857–1947), when
the British Empire monopolized external and defense relations. When India gained
independence in 1947, few Indians had experience in making or conducting foreign policy.
However, the country's oldest political party, the Indian National Congress, had established a
small foreign department in 1925 to make overseas contacts and to publicize its independence
struggle. From the late 1920 on, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had a 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. India's international influence varied over the years after independence. Indian
prestige and moral authority were high in the 1950 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 1960 and 1970 India'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 Indo-Soviet Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation 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 late 1980, India 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.

13. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, India has forged a closer partnership with Western
powers. Shown here is the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with US President Barack
Obama in 2009.
In the 1990, India's economic problems and the demise of the bipolar world political system
forced India to reassess its foreign policy and 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 1990
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. After the dissolution of the Soviet
Union, India improved its relations with the United States, Canada, France, Japan and
Germany. In 1992, India established formal diplomatic relations with Israel and this
relationship grew during the tenures of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and the
subsequent UPA governments.
In the mid-1990, India attracted the world attention towards the Pakistan-backed terrorism in
Kashmir. The Kargil War resulted in a major diplomatic victory for India. The United States
and European Union recognized the fact that Pakistani military had illegally infiltrated into
Indian territory and pressured Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil. Several anti-India militant
groups based in Pakistan were labeled as terrorist by the United States and European Union.
India has often represented the interests of developing countries at various international
platforms. Shownhereare, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi, Dilma Rousseff, Xi
Jinping and Jacob Zuma, 2014.
In 1998, India tested nuclear weapons for the second time which resulted in several US,
Japanese and European sanctions on India. India's then-defense minister, George Fernandez,
said that India's nuclear programmer was necessary as it provided a deterrence to potential
Chinese nuclear threat. Most of the sanctions imposed on India were removed by 2001.
After September 11 attacks in 2001, Indian intelligence agencies provided the U.S. with
significant information on Al-Qaeda and related groups activities in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. India's extensive contribution to the War on Terror, coupled with a surge in its
economy, has helped India's diplomatic relations with several countries. Over the past three
years, India has held numerous joint military exercises with U.S. and European nations that
have resulted in a strengthened U.S.-India and E.U. India bilateral relationship. India's
bilateral trade with Europe and United States has more than doubled in the last five years.
India has been pushing for reforms in the UN and WTO with mixed results. India's
candidature for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council is currently backed by several
countries including France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil,
Australia and UAE. In 2004, the United States signed a nuclear co-operation agreement with
India even though the latter is not a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The US
argued that India's strong nuclear non-proliferation record made it an exception, however this

14. has not persuaded other Nuclear Suppliers Group members to sign similar deals with India.
During a state visit to India in November 2010, US president Barack Obama announced US
support for India's bid for permanent membership to UN Security Council as well as India's
entry to Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group and Missile
Technology Control Regime.