Choices
About This Book
Shivshankar Menon was in the room when some of modern India's hardest foreign policy calls were made, and in this book he walks readers through how five of them came about. Rather than offering a general survey, he reconstructs the negotiations, internal debates and risk assessments that shaped each decision, and explains why the government landed where it did. The five cases are India's choice not to answer the 26/11 attacks with overt military force against Pakistan, the civil nuclear deal with the United States, the border agreement with China, the stance taken during the final months of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war, and the reasoning behind India's No First Use nuclear doctrine. Each one is treated as a distinct problem with its own history, political pressures and guiding principles. Menon draws on a long diplomatic career that included senior posts in the external affairs ministry and in the prime minister's office. He sets every episode against the larger question of how India sees its place in a shifting world order, and he weighs the outcomes critically instead of simply defending them. The result is a clear, analytical look at how foreign policy is actually thought through, written by a practitioner who took part in these defining moments. It will suit readers interested in Indian diplomacy, regional security and the thinking behind strategic decisions.
ISBN: 9780143429111
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