India and the Dynamics of World Politics

Chapter 1

India-US Relations

The relationship between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy is based on convergence of ideas and has traversed a long way from confrontation to cooperation. In the words of Dennis Kux, the relationship has changed from the Cold War notion of ‘estranged democracies’ to the post Cold War dynamics of ‘engaged democracies’.¹⁵⁰ The July 2005, India-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement has further strengthened bilateral relationship by taking it to the higher level of cooperation, from strategic partnership to the level of global partnership in the words of President Bush.

The roots of this maturity and depth in the relationship can be traced back to the pre-independence times also. In fact, President ...