ABSTRACT
A detailed analysis of Jawaharlal Nehru’s concept of the China issue reveals a characteristic pattern that has significant implications for the dynamics of perceptual processes. On the spatial level, Nehru saw India as a “moral guide,” a nation arousing and having interests far beyond its geographical boundaries, the obligations of which were primarily global and which certainly extended to subsystems other than Asia. In terms of the interaction between India and its environment, there was an aversion to the use of violence and a preference for peaceful coexistence. But in reality there was a combination of a reluctant acknowledgment of the unavoidability of instrumental violence on a low level and a sense of immunity from a sharp response from China. Most of Nehru’s misperceptions were of the evaluation-gap type. Some factors and variables were allowed to carry too small a weight in the situation evaluations, whereas others were overemphasized.
