India and West Asia in the Era of Globalisation

Contents: Editor\'s introduction. I. Globalisation, India and WANA: Theoretical dimensions: 1. India and West Asia in the era of globalisation/Hamid Ansari. 2. National interest: a flawed notion-explaining the shift in Indian Foreign Policy in the age of Neo-liberal globalisation and its implications for WANA region/Achin Vanaik. 3. Neo-liberal globalist: transformations in India\'s foreign policy: implications for West Asia and North Africa/A.K. Ramakrishnan. II. Globalisation, India and WANA: energy security dimensions: 4. Transnational gas pipelines: global context, Indian experience/Gulshan Dietl. 5. Can West Asia retain its position in the oil market? Implications for India/Shebonti Ray Dadwal. III. Globalisation, India and Gulf: economic dimensions: 6. India and Arab Gulf\'s look east policy: strengthening economic relations since 1995/Javed Ahmad Khan. 7. GCC-India relations: what next?/N. Janardhan. IV. Globalisation, India and WANA: political dimensions: 8. American hegemony in WANA region: challenges for India/Chintamani Mahapatra. 9. Indo-Arab relations: the Pakistan factor/Qamar Agha. V. Globalisation, India and WANA: cultural and diasporic dimensions: 10. India\'s cultural diplomacy in West Asia and North Africa/Aftab Kamal Pasha. 11. Globalisation and Indian Diaspora in West Asia and North Africa: some policy implications/Prakash C. Jain. 12. The changing dimensions of India\'s image in the Arab world/El Sayed Mekkawi. VI. Globalisation, India and North Africa: bilateral dimensions: 13. Fostering ties with the Arab-African world/Jagdish P. Sharma. 14. The ongoing struggle for independence: Saharawi Arab democratic republic and Indo-Algerian ties/John Cherian. 15. Social development, state and globalisation: a comparative study of Egypt and India/Sebastian N. VII. Globalisation, India and Israel-Palestine conflict: 16. Contextualising Israel in India\'s middle east policy/P.R. Kumaraswamy. 17. Globalisation and the shift in India\'s Palestine policy/Bansidhar Pradhan. 18. Palestinian-Israeli peace process in the \'New Middle East\': can India have a role to play?/Sujata Ashwarya Cheema. Index.

"India\'s foreign policy posture in recent years, particularly towards the region of West Asia and North Africa (WANA), has been a subject of intense debate. India\'s growing relationship with the US and Israel, and its \'lukewarm stand\' on Iraqi crisis and Iranian nuclear issue has been seen as a fundamental shift in the Indian foreign policy exercise. Critics have accused the succeeding Indian governments during the past one and half decades of abandoning its \'independent\' foreign policy, of deviating from Nehruvian national consensus in foreign policy matters, and towing the pro-American line. Others have argued that the radical shift in the orientation of Indian foreign policy in terms of its pro-American tilt bears the mark of "realism" and "pragmatism" that is dictated by the demand of globalisation. Therefore, at a broader level, this book seeks to capture the emerging orientation of Indian state vis-a-vis the region of WANA in the context of globalisation. In particular, it examines the political, economic, cultural, security and diasporic dimensions of the evolving relationship between India and countries of WANA in the context of globalisation." (jacket)