Indian Foreign Policy

Term Paper # 59310

Asian Studies
History > Asian
History > Middle Eastern

The paper examines India's foreign policy stand on the current war on terror.

2,970 words () | 15 sources | MLA | 2005

Paper Summary:

The author examines India's opposition to the war in Iraq in light of its pro-Arab foreign policy. As the author states, while many within the Indian political circles have criticized India's unwavering pro-Arab foreign policy and have observed that India could have acquired invaluable economic and political gains had it cooperated with the United States' current Middle Eastern foreign policy and offered, at the minimum, unenthusiastic support for the current war instead of outright criticism. It explains that India could not have done so, as such an action would have implied Indian negation of its post-colonial history on the one hand and the sentiments of its Muslim population on the other. Consequently, opposition to the current war is best understood through a historical analysis of Indian-Arab foreign policy; it was predetermined by the country's ideology, political history and ethnic composition.

From the Paper:

"India, according to foreign policy analysts and international relations scholars, has pursued a consistent pro-Arab foreign policy over the past fifty years and more. Numerous explanations have been forwarded for India's unwavering pro-Arab foreign policy stance, ranging from reference to cultural and historical affinity to others which primarily focus on pragmatic economic calculations. It is, as this part of the research paper shall try to argue, a combination of multiple factors. In other words, it is impossible to ascribe India's pro-Arab foreign policy to any one factor as it is the outcome of multiple considerations. It is largely due to these considerations that India's stand against the present Iraq war and its unequivocal refusal to contribute to the war effort with a minor contingent of peacekeepers was predicted by numerous students of Indian foreign policy and international relations, even prior to India's official announcement of its position."