ABSTRACT
A lot of global media attention today is concerned with issues like whether the foreign policies of the rising powers have undergone necessary and sufficient adaptations to become more commensurate with their newly acquired status. The prorise analysts generally prefer to define India's rise in terms of hard power potentials or acquired capabilities. India desires close and good neighbourly relations with its neighbours. The South Asian region could be characterised as one with a historical heritage and legacy of administrative unity, ethno-religious and tribal connectivities along with cultural linkages. Neo-regionalism has affected Asia with major processes of regional interactions and integration being experienced, particularly in South East and East Asia. Indian policymaking in South Asia is categorized as follows: politics of third worldism, politics of domination, politics of inclusion, politics of neighbourhood, and politics of friendship. India is destined to continue her low-key regional engagement without any major policy changes either at bilateral or at multilateral levels.
