In the initial phase of the Obama administration, India’s ruling class and strategic community formed a perception that the spirit of strategic partnership between the two countries might be diluted on account of China looming large in the priorities of this administration. Despite occasional hiccups in their relationship, this perception was overshadowed by the administration’s recognition of India’s role as counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region. This book addresses and re-evaluates the perceptions, policies and perspectives of public policy makers and bureaucratic elites in both India and the US in setting and articulating the tone, tenor and substance of the multi-faceted ties between the two countries. The scope of the book is not exclusively limited to the bilateral relationship in the critical areas such as the Indo-US nuclear deal, defence, security and strategic partnership. Its concerns and ramifications are much wider in global and regional contexts, covering/involving security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, the interface between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), China as a factor in India-US relations, and the fallout of the New Delhi-Washington partnership on South Asia.

In the initial phase of the Obama administration, India’s ruling class and strategic community formed a perception that the spirit of strategic partnership between the two countries might be diluted on account of China looming large in the priorities of this administration. Despite occasional hiccups in their relationship, this perception was overshadowed by the administration’s recognition of India’s role as counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region. This book addresses and re-evaluates the perceptions, policies and perspectives of public policy makers and bureaucratic elites in both India and the US in setting and articulating the tone, tenor and substance of the multi-faceted ties between the two countries. The scope of the book is not exclusively limited to the bilateral relationship in the critical areas such as the Indo-US nuclear deal, defence, security and strategic partnership. Its concerns and ramifications are much wider in global and regional contexts, covering/involving security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, the interface between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), China as a factor in India-US relations, and the fallout of the New Delhi-Washington partnership on South Asia.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and Aspen Institute India (Aii) have cosponsored a U.S.-India Joint Study Group to identify the shared national interests that motivate the United States and India. The group is releasing its conclusions from meetings held in New Delhi, and Washington, DC. It recommends* The United States express strong support for India''s peaceful rise as a crucial component of Asian security and stability.* The United States and India endorse a residual U.S. military presence over the long term in Afghanistan beyond 2014, if such a presence is acceptable to the government of Afghanistan.* The two countries resume regular meetings among the so-called Quad states (the United States, India, Japan, and Australia), and should periodically invite participation from other like-minded Asian nations such as South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Representatives of the Quad states have not met since 2007.The group comprised business, policy, and thought leaders from the United States and India, and was co-chaired by Robert D. Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, and Naresh Chandra, chairman of National Security Advisory Board.Other members are:Graham T. Allison - Harvard Kennedy SchoolK. S. Bajpai - Delhi Policy GroupSanjaya Baru - Business Standard, IndiaDennis C. Blair Former Director of National IntelligencePramit Pal Chaudhuri - Hindustan TimesP. S. Das Former commander-in-chief, Eastern Naval Command, Indian NavyTarun Das - Aspen Institute IndiaJamshyd N. Godrej - Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd.Richard N. Haass - CFR, ex officioStephen J. Hadley - United States Institute of PeaceBrajesh Mishra - Observer Research FoundationC. Raja Mohan - Centre for Policy Research, New DelhiJohn D. Podesta - Center for American ProgressAshley J. Tellis - Carnegie Endowment for International PeacePhilip D. Zelikow - University of VirginiaThe following are select policy recommendations from the report, The United States and India: A Shared Strategic Future.On Pakistan:* Hold classified exchanges on multiple Pakistan contingencies, including the collapse of the Pakistan state and the specter of the Pakistan military losing control of its nuclear arsenal.* The United States should heavily condition all military aid to Pakistan on sustained concrete antiterrorist measures by the Pakistan military against groups targeting India and the United States, including in Afghanistan.* The United States should continue to provide technical assistance to Pakistan to protect its nuclear arsenal, and to prevent the transfer of this technology to third parties.* India should continue its bilateral negotiations with Pakistan on all outstanding issues, including the question of Kashmir. India should attempt to initiate quiet bilateral discussions with Pakistan on Afghanistan as well as trilateral discussions with Afghanistan.On Afghanistan:* India, with U.S. support, should continue to intensify its links with the Afghanistan government in the economic, diplomatic, and security domains.* The United States and India should determine whether large-scale Indian training of Afghanistan security forces, either in Afghanistan or in India, would be beneficial.On China and Asia:* The United States and India should jointly and individually enlist China''s cooperation on matters of global and regional concern. Neither India nor the United States desire confrontation with China, or to forge a coalition for China''s containment.* Given worrisome and heavy-handed Chinese actions since 2007, the United States and India should regularly brief each other on their assessments of China and intensify their consultations on Asian security.On the Middle East:* The United States and India should collaborate on a multiyear, multifaceted initiative to support and cement other democratic transitions in the Middle East-with Arab interest and agreement.* India should intensify discussions with Iran concerning the stability of Iraq and Afghanistan.On economic cooperation, the United States and India should:* Enhance the Strategic Dialogue co-chaired by the U.S. secretary of state and Indian minister of external affairs to include economics and trade.* Begin discussions on a free trade agreement, but recognize that it may not be politically possible in the United States to conclude negotiations in the near term.On climate change and energy technology, the collaboration should:* Include regular, cabinet-level meetings focused on bridging disagreements and identifying creative areas for collaboration.* Conduct a joint feasibility study on a cooperative program to develop space-based solar power with a goal of fielding a commercially viable capability within two decades.On defense cooperation, the United States should:* Train and provide expertise to the Indian military in areas such as space and cyberspace operations where India''s defense establishment is currently weak, but its civil and private sector has strengths.* The United States should help strengthen India''s indigenous defense industry. The United States should treat India as equivalent to a U.S. ally for purposes of defense technology disclosure and export controls of defense and dual-use goods, even though India does not seek an actual alliance relationship.This Joint Study Group, cosponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and Aspen Institute India, was convened to assess issues of current and critical importance to the U.S.-India relationship and to provide policymakers in both countries with concrete judgments and recommendations. Diverse in backgrounds and perspectives, Joint Study Group members aimed to reach a meaningful consensus on policy through private and nonpartisan deliberations. Once launched, this Joint Study Group was independent of both sponsoring institutions and its members are solely responsible for the content of the report. Members'' affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not imply institutional endorsement.

Chapter 1: South Asia in the Global Age -- Chapter 2: The Post-Cold War Geopolitical Shift in South Asia -- Chapter 3: Ethno-religious Conflicts in South Asia -- Chapter 4: India's Nuclear Doctrine and Diplomacy -- Chapter 5: India and Pakistan: Issues, Options, and Future Directions -- Chapter 6: India and other South Asian Countries: Political, Security, and Strategic Dimensions -- Chapter 7: India, the United States, and South Asia: Emerging Trends and Strategic Challenges -- Chapter 8: Rise of China: Strategic Implications for South Asia and India's Response -- Chapter 9: Conclusion.

The Routledge Handbook of Critical Kashmir Studies presents emerging critical knowledge frameworks and perspectives that foreground situated histories and resistance practices to challenge colonial and postcolonial forms of governance and state building. It politicizes discourses of nationalism, patriotism, democracy, and liberalism, and it questions how these dominant globalist imaginaries and discourses serve institutionalized power, create hegemony, and normalize domination. In doing so, the handbook situates Critical Kashmir Studies scholarship within global scholarly conversations on nationalism, sovereignty, indigenous movements, human rights, and international law. The handbook is organized into the following five parts: Territories, Homelands, Borders Militarism, Humanism, Occupation Memories, Futures, Imaginations Religion, History, Politics Armed Conflict, Global War, Transnational Solidarities A comprehensive reference work documenting and consolidating the growing Critical Kashmir Studies scholarship, this handbook will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, political science, cultural studies, legal and sociolegal studies, sociology, history, critical Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, and feminist studies.

Given India’s growing power and aspirations in world politics, there has been increasing interest among practitioners and scholars of international relations (IR) in how India views the world. This book offers the first systematic investigation of the world order models in India’s foreign policy discourse. By examining how the signifier ‘world order’ is endowed with meaning in the discourse, it moves beyond Western-centric IR and sheds light on how a state located outside the Western ‘core’ conceptualizes world order. Drawing on poststructuralism and discourse theory, the book proposes a novel analytical framework for studying foreign policy discourses and understanding the changes and continuities in India’s post-cold war foreign policy. It shows that foreign policy and world order have been crucial sites for the (re)production of India’s identity by drawing a political frontier between the Self and a set of Others and placing India into a system of differences that constitutes ‘what India is’. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of Indian foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, South Asian studies, IR and IR theory, international political thought and global order studies.