India's Foreign Policy: Sources, Evolution and Prospects

4 credits · Graduate

This course will introduce students to the sources, evolution and likely futures of India's foreign policy. To that end it will discuss the colonial legacies most importantly the impact partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 on relations with India and Pakistan, the border dispute (and the ensuing rivalry with the People's Republic of China), India's role as one of the principal exponents of the nonaligned movement and its relations with the great powers most notably the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. It will also discuss India's long-term quest for great power status, its acquisition of nuclear weapons and its interest in serving as a voice for the Global South.