ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the strength of Robert L. Hardgrave and Shashi Tharoor's hypotheses in the context of the Ninth General Elections of 1989. The attempt to test Hardgrave and Tharoor's hypotheses is an interesting exercise for a number of compelling reasons. The chapter explains why yet again in the most election foreign policy issues were largely missing from the electoral agenda. There is no dearth of literature on the Indian electoral process in general and the General Elections in particular. Despite the limitations of a government-controlled media one would nevertheless expect a wider awareness of foreign policy issues on the part of the electorate. Furthermore, a number of foreign policy issues have directly impinged on the lives of the mass electorate, albeit in regional contexts. More than one journalist interviewed claimed that more compelling domestic concerns simply "drowned out" potential foreign policy issues, like the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka or Pakistani involvement in the Punjab.
