Sreeram Chaulia’s book, ‘Friends: India’s Closest Strategic Partners’, reveals not only the doctrines at play but also the kaleidoscopic dynamics of India’s indispensable bilateral partnerships with Japan, Australia, the USA, Russia, France, Israel, and the UAE.

Chaulia opines that a strategic partnership is equivalent to a live-in relationship, while an alliance bears the hallmarks of exclusivity and the commitments of a rigid marriage. He depicts how India’s strategic partners navigate their relationships with Pakistan or China in terms of confronting terrorism and safeguarding threats to India’s territorial integrity and security obligations, guided by rationality and restraint.

Chaulia’s book highlights the importance of strategic partnerships to India in sustaining its independent policy and multi-alignment strategy. One of the significant aspects of this book is to illustrate why, how, and under what circumstances amity between India and these seven friends materialized, expanded, and is likely to endure—or even dissipate.

Chaulia’s book notably develops the theory and practice of international relations discourse concerning partnerships and special ties, becoming a trend at the onset of the twenty-first century. He emphasizes that these partnerships are vital for enhancing India’s stature and soft power worldwide.

By mobilizing the networks of allies and partners of each friend into the equation of goodwill, gain, and influence with India, India’s strategic partners not only function as force multipliers but also aid in confronting challenges, bolstering strategic positioning, and balancing both soft and hard power.

This book is acclaimed for the insightful questions Chaulia has posed and strived to answer under the headings of how each friend matters, the choices of friends, rising powers, how they become thick and resilient to shocks, and whether strategic partnerships might transmute into alliances.

With reference to the USA, the doctrinal shift from the ‘Asia-Pacific’ to the ‘Indo-Pacific’ and India’s induction into Washington’s ‘framework’ of regional security dispositions have dismantled many impediments with New Delhi.

Even though the symbiosis between India and its best friends in military, economic, and geopolitical realms is flourishing, one must be circumspect about the armament of interdependencies. The reliability of some of these friends may come into question if the volatile regional and global situation alters. Chaulia addresses the issue of the parallel reliance of some of India’s friends on China and how that may unfold. India must continue to develop self-reliance and diversification in key domains as a hedge against the inbuilt risks within some of its strategic partnerships. India must also remain open to developing new friendships in altered circumstances.

‘Friends’ is a dexterous analysis of India’s bilateral diplomacy. The book showcases India as a momentous actor capable of crafting the future of international relations through its unique blend of pragmatism, strategic autonomy, and vision.

This comprehensive analysis of India’s partnerships presents valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and readers seeking to understand the dynamics of global power in the 21st century. It contains all the ingredients to become a bestseller.

[The writer is the author of ‘Pun Is Fun’]