Celebrated as a theatre of geo-economic connectivity typified by the ‘Act East’ policy, India’s near east is key not only to its great-power rivalry with China, which first boiled over in the 1962 war, but to the idea(s) of India itself. It is also one of the most intricately partitioned lands anywhere on Earth. Rent by communal and class violence, the region has birthed extreme forms of religious and ethnic nationalisms and communist movements. The Indian state’s survival instinct and pursuit of regional hegemony have only accentuated such extremes.
This book scripts a new history of India’s eastward-looking diplomacy and statecraft. Narrated against the backdrop of separatist resistance within India’s own northeastern states, as well as rivalry with Beijing and Islamabad in Myanmar and Bangladesh, it offers a simple but compelling argument. The aspirations of ‘Act East’ mask an uncomfortable truth: India privileges political stability over economic opportunity in this region. In his chronicle of a state’s struggle to overcome war, displacement and interventionism, Avinash Paliwal lays bare the limits of independent India’s influence in its near east.
Review
Broadly conceived, deeply researched and vividly written, Avinash Paliwal’s book opens up new dimensions of India’s international history and foreign policy. Indispensable for everyone interested in the past, present and potential futures of India in Asia. -- Srinath Raghavan, Professor of International Relations and History, Ashoka University
India’s Near East is a rigorous scholarly work of great contemporary relevance. For a deep and basic understanding of the geopolitical dynamics of a partitioned land that was once administratively united by colonialism, and for its twentieth-century evolution through war, conflict and social and administrative change, this will long be the book to turn to. -- Shivshankar Menon, former Indian Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to China and National Security Adviser, and author of Indian and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present
A riveting account of the pressures of cross-border migration, identity politics, and the contradictions of official policy that have frustrated India’s ambitions to rewrite the political geography of its near eastern borderlands and counter threats from China and Pakistan. Drawing on a wealth of primary material, including hitherto untapped intelligence sources, this is an innovative interpretation of the limits of post-colonial nation-building and statecraft. -- Farzana Shaikh, Associate Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, and author of Making Sense of Pakistan
Paliwal unpicks the seams between South and Southeast Asia in an insightful book that fills gaps in our knowledge. India’s Near East reasseses the interconnections across lines drawn on a map and will spur debate about India’s approach to its northeast and eastern neighbours. -- Tanvi Madan, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and author of Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped US-India Relations during the Cold War
India’s Near East sheds new light on India’s northeastern borderlands, which for decades have been neglected by politicians in Delhi. It also offers a uniquely Indian perspective on the confli
+91 9818282497
