Da stato periferico a possibile modello di sviluppo democratico: la politica statunitense nei confronti dell’India, 1947-1960

Abstract

In recent years, interest in a comprehensive reconstruction of relations between Washington and New Delhi has led to a considerable increase in publications regarding the matter: the interpretative paradigm within which most of these contributions have occurred has privileged a reading of the events from a politico-diplomatic point of view, neglecting to the same extent both the area of nuclear proliferation in the Indian subcontinent and also the economic relations between the two countries.

The author of the article firstly maintains that through a rereading of the events, which integrates diplomatic data with concrete analysis of economic interventions, it is possible to reconstruct the basis of Indo-American relations in an original manner.

The essay dedicates particular attention to the years in which, in the author’s opinion, US perception of Southern Asia, and of India in particular, was changing: this decade, approximately, proves to be characterised firstly by a phase of preparation, and then of management, of a policy of development aid emblematic of the new U.S. tendency.

Over the course of time, the Indian case became one of the most significant theatres of confrontation between different models of development, the Soviet model and that of a Western character, maintaining a prominent role at least until the mid 1960s.

In particular, this contribution examines the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the field of debate, of proposals and of initiatives in favour of Third World countries.

In this sense, the final objective is to recognise the most significant moments in the relations between the Indian and U.S. governments, as testimony of an approach constructed over time, with awareness and patience.