ABSTRACT
The decade of the 1990s — more specifically, 1992–2002 — marked India's emergence as a major power in the international system. Multiple developments heralded this strategic transformation: first, initiation of economic reforms in 1992 that sustained robust growth rates of nearly 7 per cent over the next 15 years; second, Pokhran-II nuclear tests (1998) — in defiance of the world's efforts to straitjacket its nuclear security — which, ironically and justifiably, led to India's exceptionalisation for nuclear energy trade a decade later; third, resolute yet restrained military force application that compelled the Pakistan army to vacate its intrusions in the Kargil sector (1999); fourth, coercive diplomacy and mobilisation of the armed forces consequent to the 2001 terrorist attack on India's Parliament; and, finally, initiation of the 2004 peace process with Pakistan that endured for nearly half a decade until President Pervez Musharraf's exit and the subsequent Mumbai 2008 terrorist attack. All these events served as key benchmarks for a significant shift in the approach of major powers to India, and its recognition as a stable, strong and responsible player in the international power game.
