Book Review: Shivshankar Menon. 2016. Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy
| Published date | 01 April 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2347797017751709 |
| Date | 01 April 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews 101
Shivshankar Menon. 2016. Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign
Policy. Gurgaon, India: Penguin Random House, 242 pp. ISBN:
978-0-670-08923-9
DOI: 10.1177/2347797017751709
In the last two decades, India has emerged as a major economic and military
power in the Asia-Pacific region. As India’s capabilities to shape its external envi-
ronment increase, how India makes its foreign and security policy choices assume
significance, not just for Indians but for other stakeholders as well. There is a
growing body of scholarly literature focused on the various aspects India’s foreign
and security policymaking. It is in this context that Shivshankar Menon’s latest
book, Choices: Inside the Making of India’s Foreign Policy, is a valuable
addition.
Menon has been involved in the highest levels of India’s foreign policy decision-
making for close to a decade, first as Foreign Secretary (2006–09) and then as
National Security Advisor (2010–14). Menon’s book explicates five instances of
‘high politics’ regarding Indian foreign and security policymaking in the post-
Cold War years. Out of the total six chapters in the book, two chapters deal with
the dilemmas policymakers face in using the force in dealing with non-conventional
security challenges such as terrorism (in case of Pakistan) and insurgency (as was
the case in Sri Lanka). Episodes discussed in the book regarding these two
concerns are just 6 months apart in its time frame but how specific context changes
the choices made is the key take away from these two chapters. Two more chapters
in the book deal with resetting of India’s ties with great powers, that is, with the
USA and China. The last chapter discusses in detail about India’s nuclear policy,
though some reflections on nuclear politics are also presented in the earlier chapter
on the USA. In short, Choices illustrates for us the difficult decisions and moral
dilemmas inherent in any foreign policy decision-making.
Menon specifically identifies China, Pakistan, USA and Sri Lanka as being
difficult partners in the past for India to deal with. India has had fought wars with
China and Pakistan. It had faced US nuclear blackmailing during 1971 crisis with
Pakistan and subsequent punitive sanctions on account of its nuclear test in 1974.
Indian military intervention in Sri Lanka in 1987 and its aftermath has shaped
India’s Sri Lanka policy since then. India’s relations with these four countries
have had major effect on India’s security environment in Asia and in the Indian
Ocean Region. Similar case could be made regarding India’s tryst with nuclear
weapons. India had debated its nuclear option for a long time in spite of demon-
strating capabilities, facing nuclear blackmail and a deteriorating strategic milieu
around it.
Hence, despite India’s growing accumulation of power and the altered interna-
tional realities since 1991, dealing with these countries has involved difficult
politico-military choices. Indian policymakers had to overcome considerable
domestic resistance and change mindsets in moving forward with China- and
US-related initiatives during the period of his service. India had to decide whether
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