Table Of ContentTheorizing Indian Foreign Policy
Examined from a non-Western lens, the standard international relations (IR) and foreign
policy analysis (FPA) approaches are ill-adapted because of some Eurocentric and con-
ceptual biases. These biases partly stem from, first, the dearth of analyses focusing on
non-Western cases; and second, the primacy of Western-born concepts and methods in the
two disciplines. That is what this book seeks to redress. Theorizing Indian Foreign Policy
draws together the study of contemporary Indian foreign policy and the methods and theo-
ries used by FPA and IR, while simultaneously contributing to a growing reflection on how
to theorise a non-Western case. Its chapters offer a refreshing perspective by combining
different sets of theories, empirical analyses, historical perspectives and insights from area
studies. Empirically, chapters deal with different issues as well as varied bilateral relations
and institutional settings. Conceptually, they ask similar questions about what is unique
about Indian foreign policy and how to study it. The chapters also compel us to reconsider
the meaning and boundary conditions of concepts (e.g. coalition government, strategic
culture and sovereignty) in a non-Western context. This book will appeal to both specialists
and students of Indian foreign policy and international relations theory.
Mischa Hansel is an Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the RWTH
Aachen University. Previously, he worked at the Justus Liebig University Giessen and the
University of Cologne where he obtained his PhD in 2012. Several of his works deal with
the question of whether liberal and constructivist FPA approaches are suitable to the study
of Indian foreign policy. Recent articles appeared in Global Change, Peace and Security
and Asian Politics and Policy. Other research interests include the norms and discourses
guiding decisions on military interventions, Western and non-Western military transforma-
tion processes, arms control regimes and German foreign policy.
Raphaëlle Khan is a PhD candidate in History/International Politics at King’s College
London. Her work focuses on India’s emergence as an international sovereign actor
between the 1920s and the 1960s, through an analysis of Indian understandings of sover-
eignty. She holds a Double Master’s Degree in European Studies from the London School
of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris
(Sciences Po). Her research interests include India’s diplomacy in multilateral forums,
international organisations, international politics of South Asia, rising powers and Europe-
India relations.
Mélissa Levaillant is a Researcher at the Institute of Strategic Research (IRSEM) of the
French Ministry of Defence. She obtained her PhD from Sciences Po Paris in 2016, where
she teaches World Politics and South Asian Security. Her dissertation was on the institu-
tionalisation of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, from 1947 to 2015. Her other main
research interests include India’s foreign policy towards the Middle East and security issues
in the Indian Ocean. In 2012, she published a book on India’s foreign policy towards Iran.
Rethinking Asia and International Relations
Series Editor - Emilian Kavalski, Australian Catholic
University (Sydney)
This series seeks to provide thoughtful consideration both of the growing
prominence of Asian actors on the global stage and the changes in the study and
practice of world affairs that they provoke. It intends to offer a comprehensive
parallel assessment of the full spectrum of Asian states, organisations, and regions
and their impact on the dynamics of global politics.
The series seeks to encourage conversation on:
• what rules, norms, and strategic cultures are likely to dominate international
life in the ‘Asian Century’;
• how will global problems be reframed and addressed by a ‘rising Asia’;
• which institutions, actors, and states are likely to provide leadership during
such ‘shifts to the East’;
• whether there is something distinctly ‘Asian’ about the emerging patterns of
global politics.
Such comprehensive engagement not only aims to offer a critical assessment of
the actual and prospective roles of Asian actors, but also seeks to rethink the con-
cepts, practices, and frameworks of analysis of world politics.
This series invites proposals for interdisciplinary research monographs undertak-
ing comparative studies of Asian actors and their impact on the current patterns and
likely future trajectories of international relations. Furthermore, it offers a platform
for pioneering explorations of the ongoing transformations in global politics as a
result of Asia’s increasing centrality to the patterns and practices of world affairs.
Titles
Uncertainty, Threat and International Security
Implications for Southeast Asia
Zachary C. Shirkey and Ivan Savic
Theorizing Indian Foreign Policy
Edited by Mischa Hansel, Raphaëlle Khan and Mélissa Levaillant
Russia’s Geoeconomic Strategy for a Greater Eurasia
Glenn Diesen
Theorizing Indian Foreign
Policy
Edited by Mischa Hansel, Raphaëlle Khan
and Mélissa Levaillant
First published 2017
by Routledge
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Hansel, Mischa, editor. | Khan, Raphaëlle, editor. |
Levaillant, Mélissa, editor.
Title: Theorizing Indian foreign policy/edited by Misha Hansel,
Raphaëlle Khan and Mélissa Levaillant.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, [2017] |
Series: Rethinking Asia and international relations
Identifiers: LCCN 2016043499 | ISBN 9781472465238 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315551197 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: India–Foreign relations. | India–Foreign relations–Philosophy.
Classification: LCC JZ1737 .T54 2017 | DDC 327.54001–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043499
ISBN: 978-1-4724-6523-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-55119-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
List of Contributors vii
Introduction: Theorizing Indian Foreign Policy 1
MISCHA HANSEL, RAPHAёLLE KHAN AND MéLISSA LEvAILLANT
PART I
Disciplinary and Methodological Challenges 13
1 Historiography of South Asia’s International Relations 15
PALLAvI RAGHAvAN
2 International Relations and Foreign Policy in India:
Policy-Oriented Works between Discipline and State 29
AUDREY ALEJANDRO
PART II
Ideas, Norms and Perceptions 47
3 More than a Rule Taker: The Indian Way of Multilateralism 49
TOBIAS DEBIEL AND HERBERT WULF
4 India as a Norm Claimer: Normative Struggles
and the Assertion of Sovereignty at the San Francisco
Conference (1945) 69
RAPHAëLLE KHAN
5 Theorising Indian Strategic Culture(s): Taking Stock
of a Controversial Debate 91
BERNHARD BEITELMAIR-BERINI
vi Contents
6 In Modi’s Might? Maintenance Processes and Prospects for
De-Escalation in the India–Pakistan Rivalry, 1997–2015 112
HANNES EBERT
PART III
Actors and Institutions 135
7 India and Liberal International Relations Theory:
What Role for Public Opinion? 137
MISCHA HANSEL
8 The Contribution of Neo-Institutionalism to the Analysis
of India’s Diplomacy in the Making 160
MéLISSA LEvAILLANT
9 India’s Taliban Dilemma: To Contain or to Engage? 181
AvINASH PALIWAL
10 Inside Out? Assessing the Domestic Determinants
of India’s External Behaviour 203
NICOLAS BLAREL
Index 221
List of Contributors
Audrey Alejandro holds a PhD in Political Science from Sciences Po Bordeaux,
France. She is currently Associate Researcher with the Centre Emile Durkheim,
Sciences Po Bordeaux, and Fellow of the London School of Economics, where
she pursues her research on eurocentrism and academic diversity. Her work
mainly focuses on the relations between the production and circulation of
knowledge and social relations, especially power relations and relations of dis-
crimination. She is co-editor of a new Palgrave series, Trends in European IR
Theory.
Bernhard Beitelmair-Berini is a PhD candidate, Lecturer and Research Fellow
on International Relations at the South Asia Institute of the University of
Heidelberg. Previously, he graduated from the University of Salzburg. His
research interests include IR theory, strategic culture, grand strategy, percep-
tion and identity in the making of foreign policy, as well as the South Asian
security complex.
Nicolas Blarel is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Institute
of Political Science of Leiden University. His research interests are in foreign
policy analysis and international security, primarily in South Asia. His most
recent book, The Evolution of India’s Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and
Compromise since 1922, was published in 2015 by Oxford University Press.
Tobias Debiel is Professor for International Relations and Development Policy at
the University of Duisburg-Essen. Apart from that, he is Director of the Institute
for Development and Peace (INEF) and the Centre for Global Cooperation
Research. He is also engaged in other well-known German institutes such as
the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) and the Development and Peace
Foundation (SEF). He was a visiting Lecturer at the Fudan University in China
and the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center in Tel Aviv. His research interests
are: state failure and global governance; responsibility to protect; India’s role
in international politics; development policy in war-torn societies; aid regimes
and practices of development cooperation; and violence prevention and
peacebuilding.
viii List of Contributors
Hannes Ebert works as a research fellow at the GIGA German Institute of
Global and Area Studies, where he focuses on international politics in South
Asia. He previously analysed armed conflicts and governance in Afghanistan,
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for think tanks in Berlin, Delhi, London and
Islamabad. Hannes has also worked as an external advisor for the Federal
Foreign Office and as a research associate at Harvard University’s Center
for European Studies. His research has been published by journals such as
International Politics, Third World Quarterly and the Chinese Journal of
International Politics. Hannes holds a Master’s in International Relations
Theory from the London School of Economics. He has received scholarships
from the volkswagen Foundation, German National Academic Foundation,
Theodor Pfizer Foundation and the Swiss Government.
Mischa Hansel is an Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at
the RWTH Aachen University. Previously, he worked at the Justus Liebig
University Giessen and the University of Cologne where he obtained his PhD
in 2012. Several of his works deal with the question of whether liberal and
constructivist FPA approaches are suitable to the study of Indian foreign pol-
icy. Recent articles appeared in Global Change, Peace and Security and Asian
Politics and Policy. Other research interests include the norms and discourses
guiding decisions on military interventions, Western and non-Western military
transformation processes, arms control regimes and German foreign policy.
Raphaëlle Khan is a PhD candidate in History/International Politics at King’s
College London. Her work focuses on India’s emergence as an international
sovereign actor between the 1920s and the 1960s, through an analysis of Indian
understandings of sovereignty. She holds a Double Master’s Degree in European
Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and
the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Her research interests
include India’s diplomacy in multilateral forums, international organisations,
international politics of South Asia, rising powers and Europe-India relations.
Mélissa Levaillant is a Researcher at the Institute of Strategic Research (IRSEM)
of the French Ministry of Defence. She obtained her PhD from Sciences Po
Paris in 2016, where she teaches World Politics and South Asian Security.
Her dissertation was on the institutionalisation of India’s Ministry of External
Affairs from 1947 to 2015. Her other main research interests include India’s
foreign policy towards the Middle East and security issues in the Indian Ocean.
In 2012, she published a book on India’s foreign policy towards Iran.
Avinash Paliwal is Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London. He
specialises in the international relations and strategic affairs of South Asia,
Afghanistan and Myanmar. He has authored a book on India’s approach
towards Afghanistan from the Soviet intervention to the ongoing US with-
drawal, which will be out in early 2017.
List of Contributors ix
Pallavi Raghavan is an Assistant Professor at the Jindal Global Law School where
she is completing a book manuscript on the history of the India–Pakistan rela-
tionship. She completed her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2012,
and researches questions relating to the history of India’s foreign policies and
the continuities between colonial and post-colonial international positioning
in the subcontinent, as well as the early history of the foreign policy establish-
ments of India and Pakistan.
Herbert Wulf is founder and senior fellow of the Bonn International Center of
Conversion (BICC) in Bonn, Germany. His experience encompasses research
in international relations, specifically in arms control, arms transfers, conver-
sion, peacekeeping and state-building, as well as research and practical experi-
ences in development cooperation. He is presently a Senior Fellow at BICC,
an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the Institute for Development and Peace,
University of Duisburg-Essen and co-chair of a study group on the ‘Monopoly
of the Use of Force 2.0’ of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. He researches
Indian foreign policy in a research project at the Centre for Global Cooperation
Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
