Crossing the Rubicon : The Shaping of India’s New Foreign Policy/C. Raja Mohan. New Delhi, Viking, 2003, xxii, 321 p., photographs, ISBN 0-67-004963-8.

Contents: Introduction. 1. The nuclear leap forward. 2. Beyond non-alignment. 3. Returning to the West. 4. The US: a natural ally? 5. Reviving the Russian connection. 6. Emulating China. 7. Containing Pakistan. 8. Rediscovering Lord Curzon. 9. Re-forming the subcontinent. 10. Diplomacy for the second republic. Endnotes. Index.

"India’s nuclear tests in May 1998 had reverberations that went far beyond the Thar Desert. Jettisoned, as a result, were some key tenets of its foreign policy, in particular the traditional emphasis on idealism. As pragmatism took root in New Delhi, India renewed its global engagement with a rare sense of purpose and self-confidence and transformed its external relations. In Crossing the Rubicon, C. Raja Mohan narrates the story of India’s successful diplomatic experimentation since the mid-1980s, one that has not been given its due.

"Mohan, strategic affairs editor of the Hindu, examines the reworking the India’s relations with the major powers at the turn of the twenty-first century. Notable are his behind-the-scenes accounts of India’s initiative to transform its rapport with the United States, especially the Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott talks, and its rejuvenated relationship with post-Soviet Russia. He also examines India’s management of its troubled relations with China, once a bothersome neighbour but now a power to contend with, and looks at war and peace with Pakistan, including the failed Agra Summit.

"What emerges is a remarkable tale of a country’s transformation from being a leader of the third world trade union to preparing for a seat at the high table of global diplomacy." (jacket)

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