India as Kingmaker

As India finds itself in the envious position of kingmaker, both the status quo and revisionist major powers are jockeying for India’s support for either upholding or revising the current world order. Using India’s bilateral treaties as a proxy measure of the strength of its relationship with other major powers, Slobodchikoff and Tandon determine whether India will remain neutral in its foreign policy approach or adopt a more assertive role in shaping the future global order. This book provides an in-depth analysis of India’s bilateral ties with major powers that include the United States, Russia, China, Japan, as well as the European Union (including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) and uses network analysis to study India’s foreign policy positions with other major powers.

Praise / Awards

• “India as Kingmaker is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how ongoing changes in the underlying power structures will shape future global politics. India—the overlooked global power—is correctly identified as the essential rising global power that will determine whether the Western or Eastern coalition will lead global politics in the next century. A wonderfully researched work that should not be missed by students, scholars, policy practitioners, and the informed international community.”
  —Jacek Kugler, Claremont University

• “India as Kingmaker is an important contribution to the field of International Relations, specifically the role of emerging or middle powers as linchpins in maintaining the global international order established by the hegemon.”
  —Arijit Mazumdar, University of St. Thomas

• “Slobodchikoff and Tandon have written a remarkably interesting and important contribution to research on status, major powers, and liberal order. An analysis of India’s role in the future liberal world order is long overdue.”
  —J. Patrick Rhamey Jr., Virginia Military Institute