Does the Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy

David M. Malone

Apr 2011 · OUP Oxford

About this ebook

India today looms large globally, where it hardly loomed at all twenty years ago. It is likely to be a key global actor throughout the twenty-first century and could well emerge soon as one of the top five global powers. Does the Elephant Dance? seeks to survey the main features of Indian foreign policy. It identifies elements of Indian history relevant to the topic; examines the role therein of domestic politics and internal and external security challenges, and of domestic and international economic factors; and in successive chapters delves into the specifics of India's policy within its South Asian neighbourhood, and with respect to China, the USA, West Asia (the Middle East), East Asia, Europe and Russia, and multilateral diplomacy. It also touches on Indian ties to Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. India's "soft power", the role of migration in its policy, and other cross-cutting issues are analyzed, as is the role and approach of several categories of foreign policy actors in India. Substantive conclusions close out the volume, and touch, inter alia, on the absence of an organizing framework for Indian foreign policy.

Ratings and reviews

Quite a thorough read on Indian foreign policy over the years. Mr. Malone has put in a detailed analysis of all of IFP's failures and challenges in the past decades.

About the author

David M. Malone was appointed as President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in 2008. Prior to that, Mr. Malone served as Canada's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan and Nepal. He has also served as a Canadian Ambassador at the United Nations. He has published extensively on peace and security issues, in book form and in journals. He has taught at Columbia University and the University of Toronto. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor at the New York University School of Law and is a Senior Fellow of Massey College in the University of Toronto. His most recent book is The Law and Practice of the United Nations (OUP, 2008). Previously, he wrote The International Struggle Over Iraq: Politics in the UN Security Council (OUP, 2006). With two co-editors, he is currently completing a volume on the contemporary governance crisis in Nepal.