India and Central Asia: The Mythmaking and International Relations of a Rising Power (Library of International Relations)

India’s role in global politics draws increasing attention from the international community. Unprecedented economic growth in the recent past, rising fundamentalism in national politics and the knife-edge of nuclear-fuelled tension with an unstable Islamic government in Pakistan are all bound up in Indian claims to geopolitical ascendance. At the same time, Central Asia has re-emerged as a site of international contestation or a "new Great Game," with Russia, China and the US vying over security and energy interests in a politically unstable region. In this fresh and penetrating analysis of India’s foreign policy, particularly on Central Asia, Emilian Kavalski illuminates India’s international ambitions and capabilities, and its complex dynamics with great powers USA, China and Russia. India and Central Asia provides a timely and much-needed assessment of the foreign policy of a rising power.