Böcker av Mauro Elli

Shedding light on the role of India within twentieth-century international relations, this book explores the life and career of Kavalam Madhava (K. M.) Panikkar (1894-1963), an Indian historian, statesman and diplomat. Having been involved in Indian intellectual and political life throughout the transition from the British Empire to the Nehruvian era, Panikkar was an important figure in the evolution of the modern Indian state. Based on over four years of extensive research both in India and Europe, and the analysis of public writings and unpublished archival documents, this book examines Panikkar's role in the Indian national movement, the governance of several Princely states, and India's foreign policy, notably with China. Not only do the authors critically re-evaluate Panikkar's intellectual and political thoughts, but also his influence on the broader issue of India's path towards independence. Offering a valuable contribution to modern Indian diplomatic history and wider international relations, this comprehensive book emphasises Panikkar's importance in shaping the modern idea of India and crucial elements of Indian foreign policy.

By the mid-1960s, the whole European aviation industry had begun looking at two main solutions in order to survive competition from the USA: European cooperation, and exports to markets still closed to the Americans. Against this background, Anglo-Romanian dealings in the aviation industry over a period of almost thirty years are a case of converging politico-military interests with major interpretative potential. This holds true for the history of East-West relations and infra-Western commercial competition, but also for the transformation of domestic decision-making patterns and the change in economic priorities. While Britain became Romaniäs first commercial partner in order to offer a new outlet to the aviation industry, Bucharest was looking at the U.K. to pursue a strategy of industrial modernisation and political visibility. The story of their intersection sheds light on the lower-level reality of Détente in Europe. The degree of collaboration across the Iron Curtain was not just the product of a generally improved diplomatic atmosphere, but ¿ at least in the present case ¿ the result of a peculiar mixture of political ambition, economic viability, and technological expertise. Indeed, the change of economic paradigm in the UK (from Neo-Keynesianism to monetarist Neo-Liberalism), along with President Ceau¿escu¿s fixation with foreign debt, played a crucial role in the vicissitudes of Anglo-Romanian relations in the aviation industry in the period between the demise of Détente and the end of the Cold War. This points to a reasonably articulated model, which is hinged on the category of ¿transfer¿, rather than on the category of ¿cooperation¿.