Non-alignment and Peace Versus Military Alignment and War

In this book, Dr. Kuruppu traces the peaks and troughs in the changing character of the bilateral relationship between the two democracies, India and Australia, in the post-world war period 1947 to 1975. The book claims a degree of originality in its interpretive focus: the impact of personality on the making of foreign policy. The book has a much greater Indian representation than has been previously attempted in other political writings or media reports relating to the India-Australia bilateral relationship. The case for a stronger Indian perspective, springs from the impression that Australian scholarship has had little reason, and experience of India, to evaluate the relationship from other than an Australian/Western Cold-War view of the world. And, of course, this includes Australia's difficulty in understanding the Indian mind, as Richard Casey, Australia's Minister for External affairs in the 1950s, was constrained to observe. This was also the view held by Prime Minister Nehru in regard to the West in general. The book will make a valuable contribution to knowledge of international relations during the Cold War period, and, in particular, the impressive role played by Jawaharlal Nehru with his peace initiatives and leadership of the emerging, independent nations of Asia and Africa. Importantly, it would also help improve the effectiveness of Australia's, and the West's, diplomacy as it seeks to build constructive and enduring relations with India, and also with other nations of the region, in these uncertain times.