ABSTRACT
Most of the recent International Relations literature on India deals with its actual or attempted rise to great-power status (cf. Mistry 2004, Pant 2008, Perkovich 2003, Roy-Chaudhury 2011). This scrutiny has intensified since the 1990s, with India's increased economic growth as well as developments such as its testing of nuclear weapons in 1998 – developments that have contributed to turning the possibility of India rising to great powerhood into a tangible prospect. At times, regional relations are discussed with regard to their possible negative impact on India's global ascent, yet no conclusive findings about a link between the two levels have so far been conveyed in the literature (Cooper and Fues 2007, Narlikar 2007).
