ABSTRACT
On almost any day articles in newspapers may be found containing phrases such as the following. ‘The whole question of India’s non-alignment has been reopened but … Russia’s surprise decision to supply arms to Pakistan and risk its long-standing cordial relationship with India has brought many murky allegiances in Delhi into clear black-and-white tones … Mrs Gandhi has defended the decision of Mr Kosygin, the Soviet Prime Minister … She reminded Parliament that no formal resolution of regret was passed by the House when America entered a military pact with Pakistan in 1953 … Many members of the opposition believe that the Soviet shift towards Pakistan marks the ultimate failure of India’s foreign policy.’ 1 In these sentences many different ‘actors’ on the international stage may be seen to be named, among them ‘India’, ‘Russia’, Mrs Gandhi, Mr Kosygin, the Indian Parliament (which passed no resolution of regret), and potentially the Indian opposition. The ‘murky allegiances’ which were brought ‘into clear black-and-white tones’ might have been personal, party, linguistic, state, economic, religious or many others, and any of the more sharply defined groups so formed might have become international actors. But in what sense?
