India and Southeast Asia in the 1990s

Summary

Any study of India's relations with Southeast Asia in the 1990s must begin with a reference to changes that took place in the international system following the end of the Cold War and the domestic political and economic developments that occurred within India around the same time. The two together nudged India towards a readjustment of its foreign policy goals and strategies. Foreign policy strategy in general, and towards certain regions in particular, was modified as the old international and regional orders began transforming. This is not to say that there followed immediately a clear articulation and implementation of India's ultimate objectives globally, regionally or trans-regionally but all the same one could discern alterations in the choice of target areas for its foreign policy. One notable area of emphasis in this connection was the region comprising member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was identified as the thrust area for India's foreign policy. Thus in the post- Cold War era India's Southeast Asian policy may be seen as ASEAN-centric reflecting the concerns of the country's new found emphasis on foreign economic policy. Southeast Asia and ASEAN became more or less coterminous in Indian calculations despite the fact that ASEAN did not, and still does not, embrace all the regional states. This article will accordingly analyse the overall impact of India's rejuvenated interest in the ASEAN region and its other residual concerns in Southeast Asia from the perspective of foreign policy change. In terms of overall assessment, however, what bears emphasis is the change in the direction sought rather than in the achievement of specific goals.

Foreign Policy Reorientation

In the theoretical literature, foreign policy redirection or change is placed on a continuum indicating the magnitude of the shift from major adjustment changes, through programme changes, goal changes to international orientation changes. In other words, this would encompass what K. J. Holsti calls foreign policy reorientation and restructuring.