In managing national security, how Realist is India in terms of cultivating and using power and especially military power? A conventional view of India is that it has been uncomfortable with realism or ‘power politics’ as a guide to policy. This volume shows that it has been more realist than is generally recognized and that it has increasingly become comfortable with power in the service of its interests.

The essays in this volume

• Examine the different aspects and types of realism in India’s national security policy
• Include a range of perspectives from academics as well as former military officers and diplomats
• Focus on India’s military and foreign policy in dealing with China, Pakistan, the United States, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.

This key volume will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, defence and strategic studies, and South Asian studies and to government officials, journalists, and general readers interested in the external dimensions of India’s national security.