Nehru’s Bandung (eBook)

This book sheds light on a neglected aspect ofIndias Cold War diplomacy, starting with therole of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehruand his Congress government in organising thefirst Asian-African Conference in Bandung inApril 1955. Andrea Benvenuti shows how, in theearly Cold War, Nehru seized the opportunityaccorded by the conference to transcend growinginternational tensions and pursue an alternativevision: a neutralised Asian area of peace,underpinned by a code of conduct based on thefive principles of peaceful coexistence.Relying on Indian, Western and Chinese archivalsources,Nehrus Bandungfocuses on thepolicy concerns and calculations, as well as theinternational factors, that drove a sceptical Nehruto support Indonesias diplomatic push for such agathering. It reveals how, in Nehrus estimation,Bandung also served a further importantpurposesecuring Chinas commitment topeaceful coexistence, without which stability inAsia would be illusory.Nehrus support for an Asian-African conferencedid not derive from an emotional commitment toAfro-Asian internationalism. Instead, it stemmedfrom a desire to promote a third way in anincreasingly polarised world, and to forge a stableregional orderone that would enhance Indiasexternal security and domestic prosperity.