ASEAN and India–ASEAN Relations: Navigating Shifting Geopolitics

This book analyses the nearly thirty years of India-ASEAN relations from contemporary perspectives, identifies the reasons for India’s vibrant and significant relation with ASEAN and examines cultural, economic, political and strategic linkages between India and ASEAN.

The book projects the future of India-ASEAN relations in the face of changing Indo-Pacific geopolitics and explores potential policies which could enhance the connection between India and Southeast Asian countries. Arguing that ASEAN is of primary importance to India, the book suggests that any successful outing in the Indo-Pacific would need a strong partnership with India. The book demonstrates how external powers influence ASEAN, with many of them supporting the centrality of ASEAN and its regional architecture in the broader Indo-Pacific. Chapters by experts in their fields present thematically specific analyses of political, defence, maritime and cultural aspects as well as the position of Northeast India in India-ASEAN relations and assess the success and challenges of India’s ties with ASEAN in the context of the Look East and Act East policy.

A reassessment of ASEAN-India relations past and present, this book will be of interest to academics and policy makers working in the field of International Relations, Asian Politics, South Asian Politics, in particular India’s Foreign Policy and Southeast Asian Politics.