INTRODUCTION

PAX INDICA SHASHI THAROORThis muchpublicizedbook byShashi Tharoor, Pax Indica, translated Peace India should rightly have a question mark at its tail. The book is an attempt at narration and analysis of Indias relations with the world around itBroad contours are similar to NAM2.0Meant for laymen and not serious scholarly workDeals more with present and future rather than historyINTRODUCTIONHasgenerated world-wide interest in understanding the why of Indian initiatives.Shashi Tharoor is an elected member of Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. He was earlier Minister of State for External Affairs in the government of India and before that, a career diplomat with various United Nations organizations for nearly three decades. Over and above the preoccupations that holding these positions have entailed, Shashi Tharoor has been a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, the book under review being his thirteenth.INTRODUCTIONRepeatedly asserts why foreign policy must remain subservient to domestic compulsions.The book begins and ends with Jawaharlal Nehrus vision of India in the world. Dr Tharoor is convinced that India has a sense of responsibility to the world of which it is such a crucial part and whose destiny it has earned the right to shape.INTRODUCTIONWide leeway for the PMO in foreign policy making.Public opinion hardly factored in earlier days.Nehrus Foreign policy-Though brilliant and nationalistic but lacked processes of pluralistic bargaining.Most Foreign ministers-Seniority in ruling party became primary qualification , not necessarily matched with interest and expertise.

FOREIGN POLICYFlawed institution staffed by superbly qualified and able diplomats.4 basic weaknesses- short staffed ,co-ordination poor-both intra and internal ministerial ,training deficienciesIn todays multilateral diplomacy ,MEA requires varied skill set.India needs internationalist minded young Indians who see the chance of serving the country abroad not as a privilege ,but as something indispensable for Indias growth and prosperity.MEA &IFSPax Indicas valuable contribution to the debate on Indias foreign policy is that it charts the growth of the country as a regional hegemon.Indias prosperity is intrinsically linked to the well-being of those nations with whom we share borders.defence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs determination to continue talks with Pakistan is eloquent and correct.HIGHLIGHTSTo counter Chinese needling on Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, Mr. Tharoor ponders aloud the possibility of holding up Taiwan as a similar trump card.Soft power, bureaucratic reform, multilateralism and strategic autonomy.our interests must supersede issues of pure principle.promoting liberal democracy is in Indias interestsHIGHLIGHTSIndias strategic location sharing a long border with China also seemed ideal to check Beijings attempts to enlarge its strategic sphere of influence.Wests belief that India was a strategic partner, while China was a strategic competitorchapter on India-Pakistan relations, entitled "Brother Enemy", focuses almost entirely on the Islamist terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008 - a reminder of how much of a setback the attacks have been for the bilateral relationship. Yet it also contains a series of concrete proposals - such as unilaterally accelerating the process of issuing multiple-entry visas to Pakistanis.HIGHLIGHTS

Dedicates part of the chapter 'unchartered territories' to Latin America, lauding Brazil's President Lula's attempts to strengthen relations between emerging powers. Yet also adds a cautionary note: "South-South cooperation is all very well, but national interests must inevitably prevail.

HIGHLIGHTSIndias tough dance between the West and SCO on one hand and its needs to meet with its strategic and economic interests in Iran, Af Pak and the Arab world needed greater scrutiny for a book of this nature.Russian interests in reaching the Persian Gulf via Pakistan should be a cause for great concern in India, something, which finds no mention in the book.

A CRITICAL VIEWThe book has not credited the deep impact our military diplomacy has had in shaping the world around us.Though challenges have been identified , solutions are very vague or ambiguous and at times ,even absent.

A CRITICALVIEWThe very title of the book expresses the author's conviction that India is destined and ready to play an important role in global affairs.Tharoor providing a foreign relations primer to the students of Indias foreign relations. It also exposes the vast difficulties that India would encounter in future in dealing with a tough neighbourhood, a dangerous and volatile extended neighbourhood in the West and a weakLook East Policy as evident from a poor delivery model.

TO ENDThe most sterling contribution of the book is in flagging the intriguing deficienciesin a structured mechanisms to formulate a pragmatic policy andshortfall of the diplomatic corps in executing the foreign policy.Non alignment of Nehruvian model had outlived its utility fairly early as we had willy nilly aligned with Russia during the cold war. The multi polarity of the information age world demandsinterdependenceto meet with various demands of national interests

TO ENDPolicies are always work in progress as long as national interests are well-defined and not a result of knee jerk responses to events around us. Currently we seem to be managing our foreign policy in a crisis mode. We lack long-term vision and short-term execution strategiesIt must be on every book shelf that aspires to understand the enigma called India in an interdependent world.

TO ENDTHANK YOU