Neighbourhood First: Navigating Ties under Modi

Edited by Aryaman Bhatnagar and Ritika Passi, this publication brings to focus India’s policy towards its immediate and extended neighbourhood—South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members, Iran, China and Myanmar—under Modi thus far. Each country-specific chapter describes bilateral ties, debates elements of continuity or change since the new government has come to power, and explores future prospects for ties under Modi given existing challenges and opportunities. Thematic chapters also intersperse this publication, which contextualise India’s neighbourhood policy and its bilateral ties in the region.

Contents

1. India, India’s Neighbourhood and Modi: Setting the Stage
Ritika Passi and Aryaman Bhatnagar

2. India’s Neighbourhood Policy through the Decades
Ashok Malik

3. Dealing with Pakistan: India’s Policy Options
Radha Kumar

4. India’s Afghanistan Policy: Going beyond the ‘Goodwill’ Factor?
Shanthie Mariet D’Souza

5. India’s Iran Policy in a Changed Dynamic
Kanchi Gupta

6 Why Engage in a Neighbourhood Policy? The Theory behind the Act
Varun Sahni

7 India’s China Policy under Narendra Modi: Continuity and Change
Alka Acharya

8 Modi’s ‘Act East’ Begins in Myanmar
K. Yhome

9 China’s Role in South Asia: An Indian Perspective
T.C.A. Rangachari

10 India-Nepal Relations: On the Threshold
Jayant Prasad

11. Paradigms in India-Bhutan Relations and Pathways for Cooperation
Medha Bisht

12. India-Bangladesh Relations in Modi’s Era
Joyeeta Bhattacharjee

13 The Domestic Elements: States as Stakeholders
Shashi Tharoor

14 India-Sri Lanka Relations under Modi
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan

15 India-Maldives Relations: Solid Base, Shaky Structure
N. Manoharan

16 SAARC at Thirty: Integration by Parts
Sheel Kant Sharma