The international context and Nehru's role

A country's foreign policy is shaped by two things: what happens inside it (its needs, its history, its politics) and what happens around it (the state of the world).

India was born in a difficult world:

• right after the Second World War;
• as colonies in Asia and Africa were winning freedom (decolonisation);
• just as the Cold War began, splitting the world into a US-led camp and a Soviet-led camp;
• with disputes left behind by the British, such as Kashmir and the borders.

Most newly free countries were poor and needed aid. Many simply followed whichever superpower gave them aid, so the world tended to divide into two camps.

India's leaders wanted something different: to respect the sovereignty of all nations and to seek security through peace. This is written into the Constitution: Article 51, one of the Directive Principles, asks the State to promote international peace and security, to keep just and honourable relations between nations, and to settle disputes by arbitration.

Jawaharlal Nehru was both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from 1946 to 1964, and shaped India's foreign policy almost single-handedly. His three main objectives:

• preserve India's hard-won sovereignty;
• protect its territorial integrity;
• promote rapid economic development.

Not everyone agreed with him. B.R. Ambedkar, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and later the Swatantra Party wanted India to be friendlier with the US-led bloc. But Nehru's popularity gave him wide freedom to follow his own path.