David Davies Memorial Institute (DDMI)

Wednesday 21 September, 4.00pm, Steve Crichter Room, International Politics Building, Monika Barthwal-Datta, 'Strategic narratives of India's Rise.

India is now widely referred to as a 'rising' or 'emerging' power in global politics. Its burgeoning economy, the distinction of being the world’s largest democracy and its (unofficial) nuclear power status are amongst the core stories that are told about a 'rising' India. These stories form part of, and help (re)produce a broader narrative about India's role and place in the world that appears to have become widely accepted in the literature, and informs the larger context within which India¹s engagement in global politics is often understood and scrutinised. Through an analysis of how senior Bush administration officials constructed a strategic narrative of the US-India bilateral relationship, in efforts to get Congressional approval for the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement, this paper demonstrates how policy elites are (re)producing India as a 'rising' power to shape its identity in global politics, and in order to pursue specific foreign policy goals in relation to India at the domestic and international levels.