From Non-alignment to Proactivity: India’s Transforming Foreign Policy

Indian foreign policy has endorsed exceptional and striking changes since independence in 1947. India believed in non-alignment and was a founding member of the non-alignment movement. It has also kept itself separate from the primary power blocks, the USA and the former USSR, especially during the Cold War era. Indian foreign policy has witnessed significant changes since its inception. The foreign policy of India is a culmination of different factors. It has sustained the ups and downs of internal and external factors and has navigated several changes. This paper explores and explains the continuing changes and the new directions India's foreign policy is taking with the change in time and governments. It has moved from non-alignment to aligning itself with multiple blocks and various power poles which have become a significant turning point in the diplomatic view. India has formidable links with different power poles and numerous power blocks and at the same time maintains its autonomy strategically. This change is in a direction that promotes India’s aspirations, goals, and the need to protect its interests in a changing and complex environment of the globe and the shifting politics of the international environment. This paper also works on the opportunities and challenges India can face with its stand on multi-alignment.