International Relations stand at a crucial juncture today. The multilateral order represented by the United Nations and the Bretton Woods system has not met the evolving requirements of changes in the balance of power. The global community today is confronted with a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in stasis, with major powers ranged against one another, on trade and technology and in the context of ongoing military conflicts. This edited volume attempts to encapsulate India`s pragmatic foreign policy outlook in an international order that is characterised by polycrisis, polarisation and eroding global consensus on pressing issues.

The book is the outcome of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)`s pilot project, the Director General`s Young Scholars` Book Initiative. The core aim of this project is to inculcate in the young scholars at the level of Research Analysts (RAs), the art of conceptualising, drafting, editing and publishing an edited volume in accordance with the high standards of the Institute. Above all, it offers an opportunity to view geopolitics through the eyes of the young scholars who will take academic research forward.

Amb. Sujan Chinoy is the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi. A career diplomat from 1981-2018, he was Ambassador to Japan and Mexico and the Consul General of India in Shanghai and Sydney. A specialist on China and politico-security-military issues, he headed the Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officials negotiating the confidence-building measures (CBMs) dialogue with China on the boundary dispute from 1996-2000. At the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) from 2008-2012, he handled external and internal security policy issues.

During his public service spanning four and a half decades, he has dealt with political, security, defence, trade and economic issues. His Foreign Service career included postings at the UN in New York and Saudi Arabia. He was the Chair of the Think20 engagement group for India’s G20 Presidency. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Society of the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) and Member, Governing Council, Indian Council of World Affairs. Amb Chinoy has also chaired the Mid-Term evaluation of the Modernisation Plans for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). He was a Member of the All-Party MPs Delegation to the UAE and West Africa in the context of Operation SINDOOR.

He speaks fluent Mandarin and is conversant in Japanese, German, French and Spanish. He is the author of World Upside Down: India Recalibrates Its Geopolitics (Harper Collins, 2023) and Global Tumult: India as a Pole Star (Rupa).

Dr. R. Vignesh is Associate Fellow with the Military Affairs Centre at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). His research areas include Maritime Security Issues in the Indian Ocean Region, Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, Naval Warfare and Military Diplomacy. He is the recipient of the prestigious Research Fellowship awarded by the History Division, Ministry of Defence in 2016. He received Ph.D. from the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies, University of Madras in January 2022. Prior to joining MP-IDSA, he worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies, University of Madras.

Dr. Mayuri Banerjee is Research Analyst with the East Asia Centre at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi where she focuses on Chinese foreign policy and strategy and Chinese media narratives. She holds a PhD from Jadavpur University. Prior to MP-IDSA she worked as Research Assistant at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Kolkata. She was a recipient of the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) Masters’ Fellowship in 2015 and was also part of Indian Young Fellow Delegation to Taiwan in 2024. Some of her writings have been published as web commentaries in ORF Expert Speak, South Asian Voices (Stimson Centre, USA) and web portals like The Kootneeti.