Kapur examines India's role in world politics at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It shows how the approach laid down by Nehru and followed by his successors, an approach which included nuclear self-restraint, the search for friendly relations with Pakistan and China, seeking the high ground in moral and diplomatic spheres, and giving a lead to the non-aligned Third World, has been replaced. The new, more self-confident and assertive approach is based on India's growing economic strength and has a more strategic and pro-Western orientation. The book discusses this change, shows how it has come about, and explores how India's role in world politics might develop going forward.