From Chanakya to Modi

Foreign policy does not exist in a cultural vacuum. It is shaped by national experience and a country’s view of itself. In the case of India, the foreign policy paradigm is as deeply informed by its civilizational heritage as it is by modern ideas about national interest.

The two concepts that come and go most frequently in Indian engagement with the world — from Chanakya in the third century BC to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020 — are autonomy and independence in decision-making. There are also four trends that we can trace: messianic idealism, realism, isolationism and imperial influences — ideas that have competed with and complemented each other at various points in time.

As India pursues modernity and seeks to exercise influence in the contemporary world, an examination of the nation in the context of its history and tradition is crucial. Aparna Pande’s From Chanakya to Modi explores the deeper civilizational roots of Indian foreign policy in a manner reminiscent of Walter Russel Mead’s groundbreaking Special Providence (2001). It identifies the neural roots of India’s engagement with the world outside. An essential addition to every thinking person’s library.