In recent years, India has become a favorite metaphor to describe developments and phenomena considered characteristic of globalization. Rapid economic and population growth, environmental degradation, geostrategic rivalries, mega cities, global cultural production: India has it all. A transnational perspective on the 65 years of India’s independence has much to offer and some to add to existing studies. The argument is based on the observation that India has a rich history of transnational connections and exchanges, and that it is important to contextualize India’s current developments in its transnational history. Much of what has been happening in the past twenty years has roots which reach back much farther. Only if we study India in the world since 1947 we can understand India in the world today and tomorrow.

Andreas Hilger specializes in the history of 20th-Century International Relations and on Soviet History. He lectures at Hamburg University and is currently working for the Independent Commission on the History of the German Intelligence Service. He has published on Soviet, German, and International history as well as on the history of Indo-Soviet relations. Corinna R. Unger is Associate Professor of Modern European History at Jacobs University Bremen. She has published on the history of development aid and modernization, philanthropy and exile, the history of science, and on the Cold War.

«The volume (...) is a valuable contribution to understanding today's India. The editors wisely admit that the future of a rejuvenated India remains open. Short of crystal ball-gazing, the book provides an insightful picture of the modern India that is not only a regional power but also endowed with the aspirations and capacity for reaching out to a global status.» (Jyotirmoy Banerjee, Sehepunkte 13, 2013/3)

Leseprobe

Contents: Andreas Hilger/Corinna R. Unger: Introduction: India in the world since 1947 – Manjeet S. Pardesi: India in Asia: India’s relations with Southeast Asia and China, 1962-1991 – William Gould: Muslims in India: Secularism and its international preconditions – Nicolas Blarel: Linguistic movements, secessionism and state-building in India – Sunil Bhatia/Anjali Ram: Destiny’s Children: Mediated Selves and ambiguous identities in the Indian diaspora in the U.S – Vijay Singh: Some strategies of Indian communists after 1947 – David C. Engerman: The political power of economic ideas? Foreign economic advisors and Indian planning in the 1950s and 1960s – Michael Mann: Delhi-Metro-Polis: Public transport, public opinion and national Politics – Boris Niclas-Tölle: India’s « Ville Radieuse »: Modernist town planning in Chandigarh – Hans-Joachim Bieber: The first stages of India’s nuclear policy – Mohan Rao: Indian globalisms: From population control to reproductive tourism – Dietmar Rothermund: Employment and unemployment in a global economy: The Indian case – Nadja-Christina Schneider: The medialisation of post-colonial Indian society: National and transnational dynamics – Jennifer Bussell: Foreign policy and the success of India’s democracy – Robert J. McMahon: On the periphery of a global conflict: India and the cold war, 1947-1991 – Amit Das Gupta: Divided nations: India and Germany – Srinath Raghavan: Between regional and global interests: The Indo-Soviet Treaty of 1971.