ABSTRACT
This chapter explores India's attempts at seeking status during the period following the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1964, up until the end of the Cold War period, in 1990. During the post-Nehru era, India struggled to retain its status as the world's largest democracy, but was able to survive significant challenges. India challenged the nascent non-proliferation regime, first by refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968, and then by conducting a nuclear explosion in 1974. By the 1980s, India had attained the stature of a 'regional superpower'. At its peak in 1986, the global nuclear inventory totalled 64,449 nuclear warheads, of which well over 63,476 were in the possession of the United States and the Soviet Union. The separation of France from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and of China from the Soviet bloc in the 1960s was a challenge to Washington and Moscow, but did not seriously alter Cold War dynamics.
