Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Nehruvian Phase: Ideology Adjusts with Realpolitik
- 3 Nehru's Successors: Realism Takes Command
- 4 Imperatives of the New Millennium
- 5 An Overview
- Appendix I Warsaw Declaration on Community of Democracies, June 2000
- Appendix II Santiago Commitment; Community of Democracies, April 2005
- Appendix III PM's Address to Joint Session of the US Congress, July 2005
- Appendix IV PM's Speech at the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of Afghan Parliament, August 2005
- Appendix V PM's Speech at the UN Democracy Fund, September 2005
- Appendix VI PM's Speech at the Conference on Democracy, Development and Social Inclusion, December 2005
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Nehruvian Phase: Ideology Adjusts with Realpolitik
- 3 Nehru's Successors: Realism Takes Command
- 4 Imperatives of the New Millennium
- 5 An Overview
- Appendix I Warsaw Declaration on Community of Democracies, June 2000
- Appendix II Santiago Commitment; Community of Democracies, April 2005
- Appendix III PM's Address to Joint Session of the US Congress, July 2005
- Appendix IV PM's Speech at the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of Afghan Parliament, August 2005
- Appendix V PM's Speech at the UN Democracy Fund, September 2005
- Appendix VI PM's Speech at the Conference on Democracy, Development and Social Inclusion, December 2005
- Index
Summary
Foreign policies are claimed to be driven by ideology but in reality this is more so in rhetoric and articulation of foreign policy than in its substantive evolution and implementation. Ideology, of course, gets invariably invoked to project and legitimise foreign policy goals and moves. These moves are primarily based on perceived strategic and material interests of the concerned states and their regimes. The first two world wars and the following Cold War were all rationalised and explained on the basis of ideology; of fighting for democracy first against the forces of fascism and then against ‘expanding’ communism. Similarly, the end of the Cold War has been projected as the ideological victory of liberal polities and open economies against communist state control over economy and political freedom.
The post-Cold War unipolar order has also been projected as the one based on ‘superior’ moral values of human rights, democracy and economic freedom. But all these global conflicts were precipitated by a clash of strategic and material interests of the states involved and only these interests drove their respective foreign policies. The questions of ideology versus interests and ethics versus power have been debated between the realists and the liberals in the discourse on international politics for decades, even centuries. However, when one goes under the skin of these ideological arguments and weighs them against concrete policy practices; the enduring reality of power and interests emerges in bold relief.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- India's Foreign PolicyThe Democracy Dimension, pp. 1 - 28Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2009