R.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW
Batch - 2024

English
Project on:
Book Review- Pax Indica

Under the Guidance of:

Mrs. Alka Singh
Assistant Professor (English)
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow

Submitted by:
Name- Kartikay Agarwal
Enrolment no- 190101079
BA LLB (HONS.), Semester II
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported me during
the writing of this case analysis.

Words are inadequate in offering my deep sense of gratitude to my Professor for her
precious guidance.

With her enthusiasm, her inspiration and her great efforts to explain things clearly and
simply, she helped throughout my analysis of work with lots of encouragement, sound
advice, and good innovation.

I would also like to thank the librarians of Dr.Madhu Limaye Library who extended their
assistance to me by helping me out consult the relevant books.

I know that despite my best efforts some discrepancies might have crept in which I
believe my humble Professor would forgive.

Thanking You All

Yours sincerely,
Kartikay Agarwal
___________
Date: 5th May ’20.
 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that the book review of the book ‘Pax Indica’ by Dr. Shashi Tharoor

submitted by me is an outcome of my independent and is an original work. I have duly

acknowledged all the sources from which the ideas and extracts have been taken. The project

is free from any plagiarism and has not been submitted elsewhere for publication.

Regards,
Kartikay Agarwal
Enrolment no. 190101079
 Pax Indica- By Dr. Shashi Tharoor

 Introduction

It was an intellectual delight to read ‘Pax Indica’ by Shashi Tharoor and his idea behind the
title of the book is even more innovative, it was captivating how he feels that India is well
qualified to help write the rules and define the norms that will guide tomorrow's world. He is
a firm believer that India is capable of coming up as a pillar to the peace system, not only in
its region but across the world justifying his title ‘Pax Indica’. 

His attempt here is to showcase India’s perspective to the world. It was enthralling to observe
how the Indian diplomacy has evolved after all these years. One would find it interesting to
see how Tharoor invokes the nation’s soft power and introduces his thoughts on a grand new
strategy for the country, highlighting the fact that India must move beyond non-alignment to
multi alignment. As we are all well aware about India’s colonization and its adverse
condition that sparked the idea of independence followed by a lot of struggle and finally
reaching independence had a huge impact on its foreign policy.  

 Descriptive Thesis

The text Dr. Tharoor wrote on revisiting the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ which portrayed Nehru’s
India being well qualified to endorse the dream of peace maintenance and how the world is
interconnected along with its increased rate of interdependence in the 21st century was a
positive idea, where India can be held as a symbol of peace on the international front.

India has now overcome the wounds of colonization and stands steady in the 21st century. In
the 21st century the idea of security, trade, international jobs and many other factors has
become an institution to ensure international stability in most nations. It is clear that in the
current century there is nothing subject to a particular nation instead the things we eat, the air
we breathe, our security and our jobs have transgressed our national borders. 

On reading the book it is clear that the first half of the book was written from a politician’s
perspective and the other half from a critical examiners point of view. Further in the text was
a realization that international relations is much more complex phenomena than we think,
especially when it comes to maintaining healthy relations with the states with whom we have
a long history, particularly talking about our neighbour Pakistan. 

Pax Indica as a book offers a lot in terms of India and its foreign relations be it smooth,
competitive or conflicting. Topics like India- China relations made me curious to understand
the intricacies of the relationship even more, especially the point on how China can’t restrict
India’s advancement around the globe in terms of trade. India’s recognition on international
platforms as a potential great power has greatly hindered China's claim to the same. Before
being introduced to this book I was under the impression that India in terms of foreign policy
was not that efficient at handling itself in the international scenario. However, after reading
about how India has put efforts to ensure healthy relations with its neighbours, the Arab
world and Latin America was a realization on India and its stance on international stability
since it has always been so flexible to exercise. 

The book changed my idea on India and its clear position on anything subject to self -
protection, participation in foreign affairs and implementation of its results. The language of
the book is very heavy for a reader to process and therefore can be a very cumbersome
process. Also, keeping the title of the book in mind the readings offer a lot of Indian
diplomatic issues, its views and actions and on the other hand the fact that when we talk we
cannot stick to a single country’s perspective since there are many angles to the happenings
and mis-happenings of a countries foreign Policy. We have seen India and its participation in
SAARC with the regional states and the ineffectiveness of SAARC is a greatly discussed
issue.

I believe that India at that time should have stressed more on other regional issues other than
just Pakistan. I completely agree with Tharoor on the note that India should pay more
attention to regional ties than bilateral issues because half of the Indian problem lies in its
region be it issues with Pakistan or a sour relation with china due to regional competition. 

In terms of the analyses done by Tharoor it is commendable and accurate but as mentioned
before it is too India centric. Talking about the UN and the permanent members of the
security council, I am unable to understand on what basis China and France got into the P5
(including US, UK, RUSSIA). Further it can be observed that the decision was not even
procedural. In my opinion they were just the chosen ones as the winners of WWII without
being elected, China and France got into it by chance. While reading the text made me realize
that India can be a candidate by looking on several determining factors. However, India’s
contribution to the UN is another reason for which it would not be considered as a competent
candidate for the seat. But again, these factors are subjective because in that case Germany
and Japan would be the first nations to make it to an addition of the permanent five simply
because they contribute more.

 Conclusion

It was an over-whelming experience to read written from the hands of a majestic diplomatic
himself, i.e. Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Through research it is easy to recollect that the problem is
not the contribution but the envy which nations carry for India and the way Tharoor
explained the entire scenario provided a concrete picture of it. Tharoor very gracefully
expressed post independent India’s narrative on peace along with its hesitation on
international integration.

Later, opening doors for globalization and facing challenges to prove itself competent enough
to gain international recognition along with facing continuous hindrance from its neighbour.
The book is engaging since it’s an answer to many questions related to the international
dynamics but usage of big words makes it difficult for the readers to read it in a flow. Overall
it is an in- depth picture of India and its foreign policy.
 Bibliography

 https://essaypro.com/blog/book-review/
 https://www.peoplematters.in/article/c-suite/book-review-pax-indica-2162
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Indica
 https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/review-book-review-pax-indica-1735605
 https://www.news18.com/blogs/india/daaman-thandi/book-review-pax-indica-by-
shashi-tharoor-13280-747361.html