India’s foreign policy behaviour often challenges conventional theories of international relations (IR). Why for instance, did India wait 24 years after its first nuclear test to conduct another test? In the wake of its nuclear tests, why did the political leadership highlight the scientific achievements more than the military implications and why did it characterise India’s nuclear program as being unique in terms of its restraint and its commitment to total disarmament? Why did India engage in a discourse of friendship with China rather than adopt the anti-communist stance of other democratic states? These are just some of the questions that cannot be adequately explained by the positivist and ahistorical traditions of IR that down-play the connection between state identity and foreign policy or analyse foreign policy as the product of pre-existing realities, subjectivities and interpretive dispositions. An approach that takes into account the historical and cultural context of the construction of state identity however, offers a fuller understanding of India’s foreign policy behaviour. Using genealogy and the idea of identity performativity, this thesis analyses India’s foreign policy discourse as a representational practice which, through various codings of sex, gender and race, enacts India’s postcolonial identity. The thesis uses the findings of five case studies – India’s relationship with China, its nuclear politics, its relations with its South Asian neighbours and its interventions in Pakistan and Sri Lanka – to suggest that a deep ambivalence toward Western modernity lies at the heart of India’s postcolonial identity and, therefore, the foreign policy discourse that enacts it. This ambivalence arises because, on the one hand, Indian nationalists accepted colonial narratives in which the backwardness of ‘Indian civilisation’ led to its degeneration, but on the other hand, they recognised the need to advance a critique of Western modernity and its deep imbrication with colonialism. The result is a striving for a postcolonial modernity that is not only imitative but strives to be distinctly different and superior to Western modernity by being culturally and morally grounded. Thus, India is fashioned as a postcolonial civilisational-state that brings to international affairs a tradition of morality and ethical conduct which it derives from its civilisational heritage. This thesis argues that in order to comprehend the apparently inexplicable aspects of Indian foreign policy it is crucial to understand this self-fashioning. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

India’s foreign policy behaviour often challenges conventional theories of international relations (IR). Why for instance, did India wait 24 years after its first nuclear test to conduct another test? In the wake of its nuclear tests, why did the political leadership highlight the scientific achievements more than the military implications and why did it characterise India’s nuclear program as being unique in terms of its restraint and its commitment to total disarmament? Why did India engage in a discourse of friendship with China rather than adopt the anti-communist stance of other democratic states? These are just some of the questions that cannot be adequately explained by the positivist and ahistorical traditions of IR that down-play the connection between state identity and foreign policy or analyse foreign policy as the product of pre-existing realities, subjectivities and interpretive dispositions. An approach that takes into account the historical and cultural context of the construction of state identity however, offers a fuller understanding of India’s foreign policy behaviour. Using genealogy and the idea of identity performativity, this thesis analyses India’s foreign policy discourse as a representational practice which, through various codings of sex, gender and race, enacts India’s postcolonial identity. The thesis uses the findings of five case studies – India’s relationship with China, its nuclear politics, its relations with its South Asian neighbours and its interventions in Pakistan and Sri Lanka – to suggest that a deep ambivalence toward Western modernity lies at the heart of India’s postcolonial identity and, therefore, the foreign policy discourse that enacts it. This ambivalence arises because, on the one hand, Indian nationalists accepted colonial narratives in which the backwardness of ‘Indian civilisation’ led to its degeneration, but on the other hand, they recognised the need to advance a critique of Western modernity and its deep imbrication with colonialism. The result is a striving for a postcolonial modernity that is not only imitative but strives to be distinctly different and superior to Western modernity by being culturally and morally grounded. Thus, India is fashioned as a postcolonial civilisational-state that brings to international affairs a tradition of morality and ethical conduct which it derives from its civilisational heritage. This thesis argues that in order to comprehend the apparently inexplicable aspects of Indian foreign policy it is crucial to understand this self-fashioning. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008

Este trabalho procura analisar as políticas externa e nuclear da Índia, durante a gestão do Primeiro Ministro Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947-64. Durante esse período, Nehru assumiu uma política que visava a manter a Índia fora da bipolaridade típica do sistema internacional durante a Guerra Fria. Enquanto defendia a solução pacífica dos problemas internacionais, o fim do imperialismo, o fim das políticas raciais, a diminuição das desigualdades entre as nações e a eliminação das armas nucleares, Nehru conduziu uma política nuclear ambígua, ostensivamente pacífica. Sob o argumento de preservar a independência e romper com todos os resquícios do imperialismo, ele procurou manter aberta a opção para desenvolver um programa de armas nucleares. Minha hipótese é a de que Nehru tinha como objetivo estratégico garantir as condições para que no futuro o país alcançasse o status de Grande Potência. Neste sentido, busco confrontar as ações de sua política externa e nuclear com algumas das idéias e propostas para a Índia independente contidas em sua obra clássica - The Discovery of India / The objective of this work is the focus on Indias foreign and nuclear policy during the period of government - 1947 to 1964 - when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of that country. It was during this period that Nehru initiated policies forecasting Indias strategies and interests to forge a neutral position rather than the military pacts that characterized the Cold War period. Whilst defending the pacification of international conflict; the ending of imperialism and racialism; the decreasing of inequality between nations, and the elimination of all nuclear armaments, Nehru embarked on an ambiguous policy that was ostensibly peaceful, yet it disguised the preservation of independence the breaking of ties with imperialism while still sustaining the option to create a nuclear weapons programme. My premise is that Nehru devised strategic goals to guarantee conditions favourable to India and achieve an international profile as a formidable future power. I have also attempted to confront the actions and the depth of Nehrus nuclear policy combining his ideas and proposals for an independent India as detailed in the seminal publication The Discovery of India.

Este trabalho procura analisar as políticas externa e nuclear da Índia, durante a gestão do Primeiro Ministro Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947-64. Durante esse período, Nehru assumiu uma política que visava a manter a Índia fora da bipolaridade típica do sistema internacional durante a Guerra Fria. Enquanto defendia a solução pacífica dos problemas internacionais, o fim do imperialismo, o fim das políticas raciais, a diminuição das desigualdades entre as nações e a eliminação das armas nucleares, Nehru conduziu uma política nuclear ambígua, ostensivamente pacífica. Sob o argumento de preservar a independência e romper com todos os resquícios do imperialismo, ele procurou manter aberta a opção para desenvolver um programa de armas nucleares. Minha hipótese é a de que Nehru tinha como objetivo estratégico garantir as condições para que no futuro o país alcançasse o status de Grande Potência. Neste sentido, busco confrontar as ações de sua política externa e nuclear com algumas das idéias e propostas para a Índia independente contidas em sua obra clássica - The Discovery of India / The objective of this work is the focus on Indias foreign and nuclear policy during the period of government - 1947 to 1964 - when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of that country. It was during this period that Nehru initiated policies forecasting Indias strategies and interests to forge a neutral position rather than the military pacts that characterized the Cold War period. Whilst defending the pacification of international conflict; the ending of imperialism and racialism; the decreasing of inequality between nations, and the elimination of all nuclear armaments, Nehru embarked on an ambiguous policy that was ostensibly peaceful, yet it disguised the preservation of independence the breaking of ties with imperialism while still sustaining the option to create a nuclear weapons programme. My premise is that Nehru devised strategic goals to guarantee conditions favourable to India and achieve an international profile as a formidable future power. I have also attempted to confront the actions and the depth of Nehrus nuclear policy combining his ideas and proposals for an independent India as detailed in the seminal publication The Discovery of India.