Beyond South Asia: India’s Strategic Evolution and the Reintegration of the Subcontinent

Description

The Republic of India occupies a key geopolitical and strategic space at the center of the Indian Ocean. How it interacts with the rest of the world will have profound consequences in the 21st century. Beyond South Asia follows the evolution of India's strategic thinking since 1947, providing a comprehensive analysis of its foreign policy worldview. It begins with India's failed attempt to unite and dominate the subcontinent following independence, a strategy that resulted in conflict as its smaller neighbors invited the U.S. and China to the region, resisted intra-regional cooperation, and even violently opposed New Delhi. It then explores how this worldview has shifted as India, needing markets, energy resources, and ways to balance against China, has developed economic and military ties in Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the southern Indian Ocean, and beyond. To do so has required more stability in South Asia, making India more conciliatory toward other countries of the subcontinent. This is in turn leading to a lessening of tensions, enhanced cooperation, and an economic reintegration of the subcontinent, including a burgeoning détente with Pakistan. This in-depth analysis provides a comprehensive look at the domestic and regional factors that drive India, a key actor in global politics. Written in an accessible manner, it will be of use to students and specialists of Indian foreign policy, South Asian politics, international relations, and security studies and to anyone interested in the future of AfPak, the Indian Ocean region, and America's “strategic pivot.” Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments List of Acronyms Part 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction The Strategy of a Nation Beyond South Asia Part 2 India’s Monroe Doctrine Chapter 2 Indian Geopolitical Strategy The Strategic Unity of South Asia Indian Geopolitics The Realities of Geopolitics Chapter 3 Big Brother, Little Brother: India’s Small Neighbors Nepal Sri Lanka Maldives Bangladesh Chapter 4 Paired Minorities: The Fraught Relationship with Pakistan Geopolitics? The Idea of Pakistan11 “Strategic Assets” External Balancing Paired Minorities Chapter 5 Extra-regional Powers: The United States and China The United States China Chapter 6 Geographic Dislocation: The Fallout of Intraregional Conflict Vulnerabilities3 “South Asian” Disunity Part 3 Looking Beyond Chapter 7 Economic Shift Open Markets Strategic Interdependence Energy Dependence Chapter 8 Balancing China Chinese Geopolitics and Strategy Sino-Indian Conflict? Chapter 9 Beyond South Asia: A New Strategic Direction “Look East” Looking West: Middle East and Africa A New Silk Road Naval Expansion Chapter 10 “Natural Allies”? Hitches: Pakistan Hitches: Global Governance Hitches: Dealing with the Dragon Hitches: Legacy Systems Part 4 South Asian Threat Perceptions and Regional Integration Chapter 11 Small Neighbors Climate Dynamic Nepal Bangladesh Sri Lanka Maldives Chapter 12 Pakistan: Mutually Assured Construction Making Sense of Pakistan15 Reducing Insecurity, Enhancing Security Terrorism in the India-Pakistan Dynamic Structural Change? The “Foreign Hand” Part 5 Conclusion Chapter 13 Conclusion Diplomatic Conduct Economic Diplomacy: Hard and Soft Power The Politics of Energy Consumption Foreign Military Intervention (Cold) War with China? Domestic Developments, Foreign Stagnation Managing Tensions Toward a South Asian Union? Index