Scholars of international relations, political thought, and India’s diplomatic history continue to debate the meaning and relevance of non-alignment in India’s foreign policy today. The origins of these debates lie in Jawaharlal Nehru’s articulation of non-alignment at the height of the Cold War, a concept both resolute and ambiguous.

In this talk, Dr. Swapna Kona Nayudu will draw on her acclaimed book, The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment (Cambridge University Press UK), to explore how India’s approach to international aLairs and the United Nations now understood in summary as non-alignment carved India’s place in the world. Tracing the evolution of non-alignment from Nehru’s time to the present, Dr. Kona Nayudu will examine its contested meaning and its influence on India’s position as the only non-aligned founding member of the UN. Based on meticulous archival research in multiple languages, her work uncovers India’s diplomatic and peacekeeping contributions in pivotal global events such as the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Revolution, and the Congo Crisis.

Dr. Swapna Kona Nayudu FRHistS is Principal Research Fellow, Global Asia Initiative at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Kona Nayudu is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and serves on the Advisory Council of Harvard University’s Centre for Global Political Thought. Her first book The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment was published by Cambridge University Press, UK in 2025.

Introduction by Tansen Sen, Professor of History, Director of the Center for Global Asia, NYU Shanghai, and Associated Full Professor of History, NYU.