SOAS Research Online

Abstract

India and South Africa, two states that bookended the process of twentieth century decoloniszation, punched above their weight in global politics in their initial years of liberation. This book analyses the foreign policy ideas, identity, and institutions of these two newly independent states. Theoretically, it argues that foreign policy is often more than just a reaction to global events; rather it is a site where ideas of nationhood are legitimized. Nehru’s India advanced the idea of ‘civilisational pacifism’ through its foreign policy, in turn sanctifying a particular idea of India—a non-violent, secular, and civilizational state. Likewise, in South Africa, ‘rainbow nation’ and ‘African renaissance’, two ideas internalized in the country through its foreign policy, contest for predominance. The book also narrates the institutional history of the early years of the Ministry of External Affairs in India and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the relationship between the political leadership and the foreign office bureaucracy in these two countries and discusses how this relationship affected decision-making. The traditions of national identity-making in these countries have also influenced their respective ideas of bureaucratic ‘professionalism’, which lay at the heart of understanding why the two ministries have developed different organization cultures. This book is the first detailed theoretical and historical comparative analysis of the foreign policies of two emerging countries from the Global South: India and South Africa.