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Nuclear, Engaged, and Non-Aligned

When analysed in terms of the exacting norms of international-relations theories such as neo-realism, constructivism and liberalism, India's foreign policy over the past six decades comes across as contradictory and incoherent. These infelicities, internal inconsistencies and sparks of idealism give Indian policy, as a whole, an appearance of a mystical otherness, as distinguished from the hard-nosed realism currently in favour. This article questions this impression of Indian exceptionalism. It attempts to understand its inner logic in terms of an analytical tool box, which combines the key explanatory factors of the leading schools of international politics and adds some further assumptions specific to the Indian context and culture. The article draws on the insights of this hybrid model to examine the evolution of India's foreign policy from Independence to the present day, starting with the foundational years under the stewardship of Jawaharlal Nehru and his successors, the ambivalent relationship with the United States leading to the current nuclear deal. On the basis of the insights gleaned from this retrospective, the article makes a case for a fresh evaluation of the original concept of non-alignment in the light of the state of contemporary international politics, and visualize it as a suitable norm for the orderly conduct of politics in the world we live in.