Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India's Foreign Policy

India's foreign policy is hampered by domestic constraints, such as the distribution of material power and a responsibility deficit, which lead to policy drift and hinder its rise as a superpower. Rajesh Basrur's Subcontinental Drift provides a fresh theoretical basis for understanding this relationship and offers advice on how policy makers can lower the costs of policy drift.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 268 pages
Publication date: 03 March 2023
Publisher: Georgetown University Press

India's emergence as a rising power in the changing international system is a significant development, but Rajesh Basrur argues that India is hampered by serious domestic constraints. Subcontinental Drift explains why India's foreign policy is often characterized by multiple hesitations, delays, and diversions that may ultimately hamper its rise. Basrur analyzes the concept of policy drift through the lens of neoclassical realist theory to reveal why this drift occurs so regularly in Indian foreign policy and how it affects India's quest for major power status. He identifies two basic explanations for India's indecision on critical issues: involuntary drift, related to the distribution of domestic material power, and voluntary drift, produced by a responsibility deficit. Basrur develops a fresh theoretical basis for understanding the relationship between India's foreign and domestic policies and introduces a series of theoretical refinements to neoclassical realism. Subcontinental Drift also provides advice on how policy makers might lower the costs of policy drift. This innovative analysis is essential to understanding the constraints around India's foreign and domestic security decisions and how they will affect its rise.

Weight: 363g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781647122850