22 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, Spring 2011 India-U.S. Relations: Expectations, Reality and the Future Aneek Chatterjee* With the conclusion of American President Barak Obama’s ‘historic’ visit to India, the first American President to visit India in his first term, post Cold War bilateral relationship has assumed newer dimensions. India, with sustained economic growth for nearly two decades, is poised to play a big role in world politics. In this context India’s relations with the U.S., the only super power in the present world order is crucial. From the American perspective, an ‘emerging’ India with market and military potentials is significant for American business and strategic calculations. There is little doubt that during the post Cold War period, India-U.S. relationship has attained the level of maturity and strength that was unimaginable during the Cold War period. Official visits of three consecutive American Presidents to India since 2000 are a few among many instances of this mature relationship during the post Cold War phase. But has the relationship moved on the expected route after the end of the Cold War. The time is appropriate for a clinical appraisal of India-U.S. relations two decades after the end of the Cold War. The present article examines the post Cold War ‘Expectations’ and ‘Reality’ in Indo-U.S. relations and proposes a future course of action that may help to strengthen the bilateral relationship of two major actors in international politics today. It begins with Expectations in bilateral relationship between people in both countries. The article emanates from a theoretical interest to review current bilateral relations in the perspective of relations immediately after the end of the cold War in 1991, with a view to examine whether these *Aneek Chatterjee is Associate Professor of Political Science, Presidency (College) University, Kolkata, India. Currently, Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Professor, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, U.S.A. 23 1 For instance, almost all Annual Reports published by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, from 1990-91 to 1995-96 projected very bright India-U.S. relations after the Cold War. See in this context, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Annual Report 1990-91; Annual Report 1991-92; Annual Report 1992-93; Annual Report 199394 ; Annual Report 1994-95; and Annual Report 1995-96. For similar projections in American official documents see, House of Representatives, 103rd Congress, 1994. Round Table on South Asia : Testimony Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives – 103rd Congress, Second Session, Washington, D.C. : U.S. Govt. Printing Press. Also see, House of Representatives, 105th Congress, 1994. The Clinton Administration’s Policy Toward South Asia : Hearing, Before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, 105th Congress, First Session, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Printing Press. For non-official documents see, Singh, Jasjit. 1992. Indo-US Relations in Changing World. New Delhi: Lancer Publishers. Also see, Frankel, Francine R. ‘Indo-US Relations: The Future is Now’, The Washington Quarterly, vol. 19, no.4, pp. 129-49; also, Harrison, Selig S. ‘South Asia and the United States: A Chance for a Fresh Start’, Current History, March 1992, pp. 97-105. 2 See Ripley, Randall B. and James M. Lindsay, ed. 1977, U.S. Foreign Policy After the Cold War. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh; also, Jentleson, Bruce W. 2000. American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. expectations were realized, and what could be done to augment relations in future. The Expectations After a generally distant relationship during the Cold War, the post Cold War world order provided many new opportunities to both India and the U.S. to set their relationship on a fresh course. A listing of these opportunities will help to focus on the expectations for a better relationship during the post Cold War era: (1) the end of the Cold War; (2) the disintegration of the Soviet Union; (3) the rise of the U.S. as the only surviving super power; (4) the need for adjusting and reshaping foreign policies in a new...