Updated and revised, this short introduction has become a go-to source for its clarity and succinct account of the evolution of Indian foreign policy over seven decades of India's decolonization. It explains how the three approaches to the study of international politics-decision-making, national/domestic, and systemic/global-have helped in formulating and implementing India's foreign policies.

The five chapters cover the ideational period, starting immediately after Independence and ending with the Sino-Indian border war of 1962; the period between 1962 and the end of the Cold War; India's greater acceptance of the importance of material capabilities following the end of the Cold War; current trends and debates in Indian foreign policy, including analysis on Narendra Modi's regime; and bookending the introduction by discussing challenges and the possible way ahead.