India and the United States: The Contours of an Asian Partnership
This special issue of Asia Policy scrutinizes the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership byexamining the prospects for bilateral cooperation in Asia. Although peacetimeforeign policy collaboration between major powers is a rarity, China’s rapid rise inthe international system appears to have forced the United States and India intounprecedentedly close consultation on regional security issues. Will this consultationmature into active cooperation? To answer this question, this introductory essay firstexamines the concept of strategic partnerships—a nebulous type of politicalrelationship that have proliferated since the end of the Cold War. It then highlightsthe obstacles to peacetime cooperation between major powers in other regions of the world. Following this, attention turns to the articles in this special issue whichexamine the history of Indo-U.S. cooperation in various sub-regions of Asia.Collectively, these pieces challenge misperceptions and misunderstandings of eachcountry’s policies and past behavior, as well as identify the differing understandingsof both the bilateral relationship and the region held by each party. Taken together,these articles provide a clearer sense of the geopolitical scope and depth, as well asthe important limitations, of the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership. The articleconcludes by identifying the key insights that come from this collection and offerssome thoughts the overall trajectory of U.S.-India relations.