The History and Making of Indian Diplomacy — Vineet Thakur

9. 12. 2025

In this episode, Vineet Thakur unpacks the historical and intellectual foundations of Indian diplomacy. We discuss classical strategic traditions, civilisational and colonial legacies, caste and elite networks in diplomatic culture, non-alignment and strategic autonomy, neighbourhood diplomacy, and India’s contemporary practice of multi-alignment amid shifting great-power rivalries.

Vineet Thakur

Vineet Thakur is a University Lecturer in International Relations at the Institute for History, Leiden University. He received his doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in 2014 and has held academic positions and fellowships across India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. His professional experience includes teaching appointments at Ambedkar University Delhi, the University of Johannesburg, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, following which he joined Leiden University in 2017. He has been a fellow at the University of Cambridge, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, and Rhodes University.

His research is situated in postcolonial international relations, with a particular focus on the politics of knowledge, disciplinary hierarchies, and the global intellectual history of International Relations, especially in the Indian context.

Publications:

V.S. Srinivasa Sastri: A Liberal Life

India’s First Diplomat: V.S. Srinivasa Sastri and the Making of Liberal Internationalism

Postscripts on Independence: Foreign Policy Discourses in India and South Africa

Content

00:00 – Introduction and Framing of India’s Diplomatic Trajectories
02:03 – Mandala Theory and Kautilya’s Arthashastra as Lenses for Contemporary Regional Policy
05:10 – Intellectual and Historical Inspirations Behind India’s Diplomatic Traditions
06:32 – Civilisational State Narratives Versus Colonial Administrative Foundations of Indian Diplomacy
10:53 – Social Stratification and the Influence of Caste Networks on Diplomatic Recruitment and Culture
22:12 – Nehruvian Idealism and Non-Alignment as Strategy: Autonomy, Hedging, and Principled Neutrality
27:55 – Overlooked and Marginalised Practices in India’s Cold War Diplomatic History
30:30 – The Strategic Logic and Practical Outcomes of the “Neighbourhood First” Diplomatic Doctrine
35:18 – Structural Constraints and Policy Stalemate in India–Pakistan Diplomatic Engagement
37:34 – China’s Strategic Shadow and Its Effects on India’s Diplomatic Posture Towards Pakistan
39:08 – India’s Diplomatic Approach to Tibet in Historical and Contemporary Perspective
43:29 – Multi-Alignment as Strategy: Balancing Great Powers in India’s Contemporary Foreign Policy
47:45 – The Absence of a Permanent United Nations Security Council Seat and Its Diplomatic Consequences
51:15 – India–Africa Relations and the Underdeveloped Economic Dimension of South–South Diplomacy
54:21 – Hindu Nationalism and Its Influence on the Ideational Foundations of Indian Diplomacy
58:24 – Neglected Themes and Under-Researched Domains in the Study of Indian Foreign Policy

*** at 10:29, there is a missing word ‘overstated’