ABSTRACT
The natural effect of commerce is to bring about peace, because two nations which trade together render themselves reciprocally dependent.1
Ever since India attained its freedom in 1947, its grand strategic perspectives have been influenced by divergent streams of thinking or visions. Their votaries have been described variously as moralists, Hindu nationalists, strategists and liberals2 or as Nehruvians, neoliberals and hyperrealists.3 In the real world, public policies do not necessarily conform to precise theories or schools of thought; they are often an amalgam of various strands of thinking. However, to the extent that we can characterise Indian grand strategy since 1947, it was dominated by Nehruvianism, with non-alignment being its principal feature.4
