The Global War on Terror as a Catalyst for Cooperation: Analyzing India-Southeast Asia Relations from 1947 to the Post-9/11 Period

India's independence in 1947 became the starting point for the South Asian state to tread a path towards its national interests. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru envisioned an India that had two core pillars:1) a non-aligned policy 2) a central role in the Indian Ocean and the Asian continent. However, the Cold War period brought a number of challenges upon India that served as a preoccupation from an outward foreign policy approach. The consecutive wars with Pakistan and the border war with China in 1962 became great hurdles for India to interact with its neighbors in the East, particularly Southeast Asia. In addition, India's warming up of relations with the Soviet Union further soured relations between India and the United States and the pro-US Southeast Asian countries. With the end of the Cold War, however, India was seen to be isolated due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decreased significance of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). India-Southeast Asian relations continued to remain ambiguous due to the internal and external factors that affected India. However, after the devastating terror attack in 9/11, 2001, the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was spearheaded by the United States. This event took a positive turn for India-Southeast Asian relations, which continued to develop steadily since then.