Review: Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy

Abstract

DOES THE ELEPHANT DANCE? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy David M. Malone Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 448PP, /25.00 (cloth) ISBN: 978-0-19-955202-3The growing focus on India's role in global politics is usually interpreted as a further confirmation of dramatic transformations in study and practice of international relations. Soon after end of Cold War, commentators began pondering how far western ideas would spread in an environment characterised by the end of history. Two decades later, debate seems to be how far Asian ideas will spread. India's growing prominence in global life is one of major reasons for this shift in perspective. In particular, interest in discourses and practices of Indian foreign policymaking has grown markedly. Yet despite this newfound attention, India's external outlook remains a topic of profound ambivalence and uncertainty among scholars, policymakers, and citizens.It is important but difficult to distinguish between phantoms and substance in cacophony of voices claiming insight into way New Delhi makes foreign policy. David M. Malone's book does just this and does it brilliantly. It not only offers an erudite and much-needed reconsideration of country's international interactions, but also provides detailed and comprehensive coverage of current and likely future trajectories of Indian external relations. Malone is perfect person for this job. The book draws on experience he gained in his extensive diplomatic career, including stints as Canada's permanent representative at UN and, subsequently, as Canadian high commissioner to India. Malone has simultaneously been an active public intellectual and prolific commentator on some of key issues animating dynamics of global politics in last two decades.Because complexity of Indian foreign policy stumps most authors, Malone's insights are all more valuable. By contrast with other countries, India's external outlook is not merely property of government or ubiquitous Indian foreign service. Many other actors - including academics, journalists, and politicians of all stripes, as well as defence establishment and private companies - playa part in country's international interactions. As Malone indicates, lack of a clear division of labour among these different participants underpins that perennial chestnut of Indian foreign policy, country's lack of clear strategic and other conceptual frameworks (18).In order to trace origins of this state of affairs, Malone gives a detailed historical account of India's rich foreign policy traditions. Unlike most other observers, who look no further back than country's independence from British rule, Malone takes long view, beginning 4000 years ago with ancient Indus and Harappan civilizations, in order to establish evolution and contours of Indian international identity. However, this contextualization does not imply a straight line between past and present. …