Theorizing Indian Foreign Policy

Bringing closer together the fields of contemporary Indian foreign policy and the concepts, methods and theories used by the disciplines of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and International Relations (IR), this study overcomes the deficiencies of comparative IR and FPA studies that have thus far mostly focussed on the cases of Western and advanced nations, while explicit theorizing on Indian foreign policy is rarely done. Chapters empirically deal with different foreign policy issues, ranging from security policy to foreign economic policies. They also cover different bilateral relations and institutional settings. Conceptually however they ask similar questions about what is unique of Indian foreign policy and how to study it. Theorizing Indian Foreign Policy, will benefit both the specialist and the generalist.

Mischa Hansel is an Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the RWTH Aachen University. Previously he worked at the Justus Liebig University Giessen and the University of Cologne where he obtained his Ph.D in 2012. Several of his works deal with the question of whether or not liberal and constructivist FPA approaches are suitable to the study of Indian foreign policy. Recent articles appeared in Global Change, Peace & Security and Asian Politics and Policy respectively. Other research interests include the norms and discourses guiding decisions on military interventions, Western and Non-western military transformation processes, arms control regimes, and German foreign policy.

Raphaelle Khan is a PhD candidate in History/International Politics at King’s College London. Her work focuses on India’s emergence as an international sovereign actor between the 1920s and the 1960s, through an analysis of Indian understandings of sovereignty. She holds a double Master’s Degree in European Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Her research interests include India’s diplomacy in multilateral arenas, International Organisations, International Politics of South Asia, Rising Powers, and Europe-India relations.

Melissa Levaillant is a Researcher at the Institute of Strategic Research (IRSEM) of the French Ministry of Defence. She obtained her PhD from Science Po Paris in 2016, where she teaches World Politics and South Asian Security. Her dissertation was on the institutionalisation of India's ministry of External Affairs, from 1947 to 2015. Her other main research interests include India's foreign policy towards the Middle East and security issues in the Indian Ocean. In 2012, she published a book on India's foreign policy towards Iran.