ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is grouped into three parts: the global context; looking out from India; and the making of foreign policy, especially of the diplomats, in those heady years of transition. The global context is dealt with in two contributions, by Palat on geopolitics and Raghavan on India's place in American strategy during the Second World War. The second part consists of perspectives on the world from two immensely influential and representative Indians from the world of literature, journalism, and politics, Tagore and Periyar. The final part explains the most important aspect of the transition to independence, the institutional structures and its personnel for pursuing a foreign policy. The book also shows how the USA had a clear role for India in the war effort, and it was so different from the British anxiety merely to hold on to empire.
