Interrogating International Relations: India’s Strategic Practice and the Return of History

267 Pages·2011·2.752 MB·English

by  Jayashree Vivekanandan

Interrogating
International Relations
ii (cid:64) Interrogating International Relations
War and International Politics in South Asia
Series Editor: Srinath Raghavan
Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, and Lecturer in Defence Studies, King’s
College London, University of London.
This Series seeks to foster original and rigorous scholarship on the dynamics
of war and international politics in South Asia. Following Clausewitz, war
is understood as both a political and a social phenomenon which manifests
itself in a variety of forms ranging from total wars to armed insurrections.
International politics is closely intertwined with it, for war not only plays an
important role in the formation of an international order but also a threat to its
continued existence. The Series will therefore focus on the international as well
as domestic dimensions of war and security in South Asia. Comparative studies
with other geographical areas are also of interest.
A fundamental premise of this Series is that we cannot do justice to
the complexities of war by studying it from any single, privileged academic
standpoint; the phenomenon is best explained in a multidisciplinary frame-
work. The Series welcomes a wide array of approaches, paradigms and meth-
odologies, and is interested in historical, theoretical, and policy-oriented
scholarship. In addition to monographs, the Series will from time to time publish
collections of essays.
Also in this Series
Fighting Like a Guerrilla: The Indian Army and Counterinsurgency
Rajesh Rajagopalan
ISBN 978-0-415-45684-5
Indian Foreign Policy in a Unipolar World
Editor: Harsh V. Pant
ISBN 978-0-415-48004-8
India’s Nuclear Debate: Exceptionalism and the Bomb
Priyanjali Malik
ISBN 978-0-415-56312-3
Interrogating
International Relations
India’s Strategic Practice and the
Return of History
Jayashree Vivekanandan
LONDON NEW YORK NEW DELHI
First published 2011 in India
by Routledge
912–915 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2011 Jayashree Vivekanandan
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Printed and bound in India by
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or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval
system without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-415-59812-5
This book is printed on ECF environment-friendly paper manufactured from uncon-
ventional and other raw materials sourced from sustainable and identified sources.
To my parents
for making it worth the while
‘I confess I do not believe in time. I like to fold my magic carpet,
after use, in such a way as to superimpose one part
of the pattern upon another.
Let visitors trip.’
V. Nabokov, Speak, Memory
Contents
List of Maps xi
List of Tables xiii
Acknowledgements xv
1. Temporal Journeys: Reorienting International Relations 1
2. India’s Strategic Practice: Theory Meets History 37
3. The Making of Mughal Grand Strategy: Material
and Ideational Influences 100
4. Strategies of Conciliation and Coercion:
Two Case Studies 146
5. New Directions in International Relations 188
Appendix 214
Bibliography 217
About the Author 241
Index 242
List of Maps
3.1 Political Map of the Mughal Empire, 1601 105
3.2 The Expansion of the Mughal Empire, 1605–1707 108
3.3 The Annual Radius of Action
of the Mughal Imperial Camp 130
4.1 Political Map of Rajasthan, 1595 156
4.2 The Deccan, 1565 178
List of Tables
4.1 Ruling in Absentia: Years Spent Away from
the Capital (1556–1739) 150
4.2 Settled Residences of Mughal Emperors 152
4.3 Relative Positions of Rajput Nobles
under Akbar and Jahangir 158
4.4 Marriage Patterns of the Mughal Emperors 163
4.5 A Comparison of Contemporary Power Analyses
with Abul Fazl’s Categorisation of Power Dynamics 175