Indian Foreign Policy: Non Alignment in the Midst of the Cold War

After the World War 2 between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc, the relationship developed primarily between the USA and USSR; eventually leading up to a war called the Cold War. Although the Cold War was between the United States and the Soviet Union; ultimately, the Cold War was mainly caused by the USSR because of Stalin’s dominating behavior, the USSR’s military and territory expansion, and USSR’s aim of spreading world communism or USSR’s dislike of capitalism.

Capitalist versus communist countries, i.e. the Western Bloc versus the Eastern Bloc were linking to the events dominating the politics of the world the Cold War. In the aftermath of World War II, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union governed the tension surrounding communist growth and fears. These two nations had become the new superpowers, with the communist Soviet Union heading an ‘Eastern Bloc’ of countries and the capitalist United States heading a ‘Western Bloc’. In 1947, the United States declared a new policy to check the growing power of communism; ‘to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation [complete control] by armed minorities or by outside pressure’. The conflict between the Eastern and Western blocs became known as the Cold War. It centred

The U.S. Cold War began shortly after WW II. The two world superpowers, the Soviet Union and the U.S., wanted to spread their own form of government. The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism to the “satellite nations” under its control, while the U.S. wanted to spread democracy to the newly created zones in Europe. NATO was created by North American countries to deter the Soviet Union from attempting to invade Western Europe. In retaliation to the creation of NATO, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact with its Eastern satellite nations. Both alliances were created to deter the other from trying to influence nations under their spheres of influences, and during the Cuban Missile

Consisting of 44 years of violence and civil unrest from 1947 to 1991, the Cold War was a huge turning-point in history. The Cold War however was a war of avoidance, not combat. Defence systems were heavily funded as deterrence to actual war, the belief being a risk of mutual annihilation would be too great to be the side to make the first move. However, the Cold War caused a large variety of conflict and civil unrest around the world, such as the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The War split the world into supporting either the United States, or the USSR (Soviet Union). Both superpowers were associated with two very different political systems; Capitalism and Communism. The Soviets were very concerned about the spread

The forty-five years from the dropping of the atom bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into

Following World War II disputes between soviet and the Western democracies kicked up, particularly dealing with the fate of Eastern European states and the Soviets influential takeover. The communist takeover of Eastern Europe clashed with the democratic rebuilding of Western Europe forming what Winston Churchill described as a “Iron Curtain” a political, military and ideological barrier set by the Soviet Union served to set a metaphorical boundary between the Soviet expansion and the Western democracies. With the fall of the “Iron Curtain” “The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war, characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs.”

After World War II, the Eastern and Western Allies started to grow apart. The Eastern Bloc was led by the Soviet Union and promoted communism, while the Western Bloc was led by the United States and promoted capitalism, through democracy. Both wanted their country’s ideals to spread throughout the world, and at the same time, prevent the opposing superpower from taking over. In an attempt to stop the spread of communism, the United States created NATO and the Truman Doctrine, while the Soviet Union tried to stop democracy by creating the Warsaw Pact. At this point, the world was divided, and most third world countries became pawns in the fight of communism versus capitalism.

The Cold War was a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle mainly between the two superpowers, The United States of America and the USSR. Although the USSR and US were the two superpowers that initiated the conflict, other countries such as Vietnam, North and South Korea, and Cuba had major involvement in the Cold War. The US was a capitalist country while the USSR was a communist country. There are many reasons, that when combined caused the Cold War to start. Some of the most important reasons were the fear of the USSR’s expansion of communism into Eastern Europe

In 1757, Great Britain extended its empire into India. This occupation would not fully end until 1947. In the time between, there were many movements by the Indian people to gain independence from the British. The movement that finally succeeded in winning India’s independence was led by one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi’s methods for fighting against the occupation of the British were very different from those of any of the freedom movements before. And that was why it worked. Gandhi did not agree with the general reasoning of the time: that conflicts could be solved through negotiation and forceful resistance.1 Rather, his faith led him to go

It is very easy to find that these two leaders living in two very different social and political circumstances. Gandhi’s mother’s education, the putlibai's moral and his father’s dead influenced his thought that advocated the use of satvagraha, "truth-force" and rejected any aid. Apart from that, the two experiences that he was prejudiced cause he wanted to change the unjust situation.

Soon after the end of the World War Two (WW II), a new period of tensions began in the world with once again Europe at the very heart of the tensions. It was the Cold War. It “was a state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its allies in the Warsaw Pact). It “split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences: the former being a single-party Marxist–Leninist state, and the latter being a capitalist state with generally free elections.” Although it was not the same scale as the WWII in terms of destructions and casualties, the Cold War did however bring the world to the brink of total nuclear war. While both superpowers avoided confronting each other directly on the military field, they had an open and intensive competition in the area of culture and consumerism.

Post World War II, Russia and the US were the two superpowers in the world and had major territorial disputes in Eastern Europe. In 1946, tensions between the US and Russia heightened with the start of the cold war. Both nations were the main driving forces on opposing ends. Both had claims to Eastern Europe after World War II, and a standoff would occur for the next 50 years. The US and the West thought that communism was inherently wrong, that it stripped citizens from basic human freedoms and that it prohibited economic growth and power. The Soviets believed that both world wars were a direct result of Capitalist Imperialism, and that capitalism promoted inequality especially financially. The apparent financial divide would further the rift between the rich and the poor, and promote social classes, which the Soviets completely opposed. Both the US and Russia had extensively used propaganda against each other and their political beliefs. The two superpowers vilified one another, while maintaining that each of their own ideas were superior and without flaw.

After World War II, Europe emerged as a continent torn between two very different political ideologies, Communism and Democracy. As the two major superpowers, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States, struggled to defend their respective governmental policies, the European Continent was caught in an intrinsic struggle to preserve the autonomy which had taken so long to achieve. During the Cold War, Eastern European nations struggled to achieve autonomy with the help of the West's dedication to break the Soviet sphere of influence. After the disintegration of the USSR, the struggle for autonomy among nations shifted from an intense, inward, nationalistic

Aroused by the massacre of Amritsar in 1919, Gandhi devoted his life to gaining India’s independence from Great Britain. As the dominant figure used his persuasive philosophy of non-violent confrontation, he inspired political activists with many persuasions throughout the world (Andrews 23). Not only was Mahatma Gandhi a great peacemaker, but also his work to achieve freedom and equality for all people was greatly acknowledged. Gandhi’s unconventional style of leadership gained him the love of a country and eventually enabled him to lead the independence movement in India.

Being a land locked country surrounded by India and China, situated along the southern slopes of the Himalayas Nepal feels interference of India in her domestic politics and in foreign policy making which indicates determinants of her foreign policy are not amply helpful and capabilities of her foreign policy rather renders Nepal an absurd fear-psychosis position against India keeping her long away from world politics for hundreds of years. Her geo strategic location makes her vulnerable and dependent on India. Their foreign policy decision making pivots the two next door neighbors having geo political constraints. Given that there is China-preference in their sentiment, however, Nepal acts like a puppet in India’s hands in her decision making. Nepal is one of the best examples of being restrained by God given geo-demographic, geo-positional, socio-cultural realities. Albeit, Nepal succeeds in preservation of autonomy, protection of national sovereignty, territoriality, maintenance of rule of laws, preservation of human rights and equality, building friendship with neighbors, bringing foreign currency to boost up economy and keeping rising position in the central Asia.