Sikri - Challenge and strategy: rethinking Indias foreign policy

Praise for
Challenge and Strategy: Rethinking
Indias Foreign Policy

Rajiv Sikri has written a very fine survey of Indias current relations with the outside world, peppered throughout with critique and counsel a searching volume which expertly combines thoroughness and vision.

Asian Affairs

Rajiv Sikris book provides an interesting addition to the existing literature. Written by a retired diplomat who spent close to four decades in Indias Ministry of External Affairs, the book is a comprehensive account of Indias foreign policy debates ....

The International Spectator

Challenge and Strategy: Rethinking Indias Foreign Policy is the best statement of the latter-day Nehruvian approach. Sikris intellectual framework and recommendations combine recognition of Indias contemporary economic growth with a more Nehruvian drive to position India as a balancing factor to the United States.

Survival

This book is in the tradition of strategic thought that values freedom of diplomatic action and exhorts self-belief so that India does not become anyones valet.

Asia Times Online

The book is a good exposition of Indias foreign policy and its evolution in terms of political, economic and strategic depth It is beautifully structured in thematic forms in dealing with Indias relations with individual countries. Important issues such as energy security, economic diplomacy, defence and diplomacy and Indias strategic choices are given separate treatment The bibliography listed at the end of the book is impressive. In terms of production, compliments are due to SAGE. The language used in the book is devoid of jargon and makes for lucid reading. The book will be a valuable addition to knowledge.

India Quarterly

Rajiv Sikris book on Indian foreign policy is a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the challenges facing Indian foreign policy The strongest part of the book is the authors analysis of Indias relationships with different countries, particularly the constraints that New Delhi faces in pursuing these relationships and in the lost opportunities to develop new paradigms Sikris coverage of different countries, regions, and issues makes the book a valuable text book for someone seeking to understand the compulsions of Indian foreign policy [The book is] well researched, well written, and persuasively argued.

Peace and Conflict Studies

With many out-of-the-box ideas and policy suggestions, the book makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate on foreign policy with India as the strategic country The book can serve as an important source material for students of Indian politics, international relations and defence and strategic studies and for others interested in Indias foreign policy.

The Organiser

The book issues a clarion call to Rethink our countrys foreign policy Sikris spirited analysis is a welcome addition to the growing literature on our foreign policy and relations. Coming from someone so closely and intimately involved with the making and implementation of our countrys foreign policy for long years and especially someone who quit the sanctuary in protest, the book is particularly enlightening to those who are familiar with the scene.

Freedom First

Sikris book is a reminder of what has gone wrong with Indias foreign policy as well as what needs to be set right at the level of the MEA and other policymaking institutions in the country. The book is written lucidly and should be essential reading for those interested in understanding the current foreign policy of India.

Frontline

By any standards, this book is indeed a valuable addition to the many books on the basics, the evolution and the myriads nuances of Indias foreign policy since Independence Written in excellent prose, this book is a must-read for the strategic community both inside and outside the government.

USI Journals

Sikri presents us with a lucid and analytical narrative on Indias foreign policy. It is deeply reflective study which lays emphasis on should and must of the policy than its what and why aspects. It will be welcomed both by the policy-makers and analysts of the subject.

Mainstream

A pleasant read Rajiv Sikris Challenge and Strategy can serve as a very useful guide for people interested in gong deeper into Indias foreign policy challenges today [The author] provides an interesting insight into what is going on in Indias neighbourhood and beyond. He gives meaningful ideas about how India should conduct itself for successfully safeguarding the countrys interests.

The Tribune

Rajiv Sikris book offers a reflection on the concerns that grip the upper reaches of the Indian foreign policy bureaucracy as well as a glimpse into the debates that take place in the closed councils of New Delhi.

Asia Policy

Sikri offers a very significant insight into Indias worldview and its foreign policy behaviour. All too long a Western purview, Sikri presents a very non-Western perspective of the world and, especially South Asia.

Contemporary Security Policy

Sikri expresses the Indian perspective straightforwardly. The major obstacles to Indias ambitions, he says, are an unjust suspicion of its motives on the part of its immediate neighbors and the rise of China Indias ambitions in every theater encounter other actors already present. In this sense, Sikri is right to say that India is not a status quo power, even though its goal is to join, not overturn, the great-power system.

Foreign Affairs

The book makes a bold attempt to critique Indian foreign policy and suggest policy alternatives, some of which seem to be at variance/odds with the mainstream foreign-policy thinking in India today. The observations in the book combine the experience of a seasoned diplomat, the passion of a nationalist and the critical insight of a scholar.

Strategic Analysis

Sikri finds a worrying mismatch between existing foreign policy mindsets, structures, and institutions and the types of issues they will be forced to deal with in the years ahead. Sikris analysis covers a wide range of issues including cultural, traditional and institutional aspects of foreign policy.

The Book Review

Challenge and Strategy

Challenge and Strategy

Rethinking Indias Foreign Policy

RAJIV SIKRI

Foreword by Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

Copyright Rajiv Sikri, 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in 2009 by

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sikri, Rajiv.