Book Reviews : India in World Affairs (August 1947-January 1950). A Review of India's Foreign Relations from Independence Day to Republic Day. By K. P. KARUNAKARAN. (London: Oxford University Press, Indian Branch. 1953. Pp. xii, 407. Bibliography and index. $6.00.)

• Date: 01 March 1956
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900132
• Subject Matter: Articles

199
India in World Affairs (
August 1947-January 1950
).
A Review of India’s
Foreign Relations from Independence Day to Republic Day. By K. P.
KARUNAKARAN. (London: Oxford University Press, Indian Branch.
1953. Pp. xii, 407. Bibliography and index. $6.00.)
This volume is the first comprehensive account by an Indian scholar,
and under exclusively Indian auspices, of India’s achievement of her long-
sought independence, and of her entry into the community of states. Out
of a &dquo;decent respect for the opinions of mankind,&dquo; the Indian Council of
World Affairs has felt impelled to set forth the objectives of Indian foreign
policy within this limited but significant period, and to interpret those
objectives in the light of facts and events.
The book is addressed to the foreign policies of India in their totality.
The author moves generously, globally, and comprehensively over the
world scene, touching where Indian policy is slightly concerned, giving
detail where Indian interests are directly and heavily involved, and even
expressing the Indian view where India is concerned only on a general or
multilateral basis. The study serves notice to the world that India will have
her say on all matters in which she regards herself as having an interest,
or concerning which she feels she ought to have and to express an opinion.
The chapter headings indicate the wide range of the book, a range
which constitutes both strength and weakness: strength in that no single
topic is omitted from comment and analysis; weakness in that it has been
impossible to pursue any subject with that completeness that the Indian
Council has provided in its more specialized studies. However, one must
take into account the preliminary and general purposes of the book, intro-
ductory to what will doubtless prove to be a long and inevitably compli-
cated experience in international relations.
The core of the study is the Indian national movement and the Indian
struggle for self-rule and...