Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, an autonomous social science research institute sponsored by Government of West Bengal in its Higher Education Department, had initiated a project to publish in the form of Occasional Papers/Policy Briefs the outlines of India's relationship with East Asian countries in the context of India's earlier Look East and current Act East Policy. Two studies have already been published: the first in 2017 on India and Malaysia: Historical Hindsight and the Way Ahead by Suranjan Das (KW Publishers, 2017) and the second in 2018 on Indo-Vietnam Relations in the Emerging Global Order, jointly by Suranjan Das, Tridib Chakraborti and Subhadeep Bhattacharya. The present work represents the third publication in this series.
This volume unfolds the trajectory of India-Indonesia bilateralism within a chronological framework. It delineates three crucial phases in this relationship: the 1945-55 era of friendship; the 1956-66 period of tensions; the post-1966 years of strategic companionship. It outlines how the bilateral engagement has gradually assumed an 'ASEAN-centric', 'Asia-centric' and 'global cooperative' strategic character. This transformed relationship has unfolded new opportunities which, if realised, can result in a more productive and constructive bilateralism between India and Indonesia. The book should hopefully be of use to both scholars of international relations as well as practitioners of diplomacy.
Suranjan Das is currently the Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University and Honorary Director of Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Kolkata. He had been a Professor of History at the Calcutta University, also serving that University as Vice-Chancellor from 2 May 2008 to 14 July 2015. Professor Das is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter. He specialises in South Asian History and Politics, especially on issues relating to nation-building and Indian Foreign Policy. He has authored six monographs, co-authored four books, co-edited seven volumes and published 30 articles in refereed journals and edited volumes, which are widely cited.
Subhadeep Bhattacharya is a Research Assistant at Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Kolkata, and had been a Fellow at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata. He holds post-graduate and M.Phil degrees from the University of Calcutta. His area of interest is India-Southeast Asia relations and Indo-Pacific geopolitics. He has authored two books Looking East since 1947: India's Southeast Asia Policy and Understanding South China Sea Geopolitics. He has also written one Occasional Paper and one Policy Brief, co-authored Indo-Vietnam Relations in Emerging Global Order, co-edited India and Southeast Asia: States, Borders and Culture and contributed scholarly articles in edited volumes.
