India-America Relations (1942-62): Rooted in the Liberal International Order

Dr Bharwaj will present India’s encounter with the post-war hegemony and address why America occupies limited space in India’s postcolonial historiography.  He rejects the conventional orthodoxy that assigns a limited role to America and challenges narratives which neglect the natural asymmetries and focus on discord and differences to define India-America relations. He provides a fresh perspective that indicates a deeply embedded Indo-US strategic relationship in which China looms large. He argues that both India as well as America’s reticence on the depth of their bonhomie in the Nehru era resulted from the political and strategic compulsions imposed by the arrival of communism in China.