The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World by Linda Colley, London: Profile Books, 2021, pp 502, ₹2,280 (hardcover).
Through a discussion of the build-up to the 1975 Emergency, what happened then and thereafter, and of the run-up to the 2014 elections and the first year of the Narendra Modi government, it is argued that in spite of all its deficiencies, India's democracy remains vibrant and will fight another attempt at authoritarian rule. But if government policies favour the rich and systematically undermine the interests of the common people and their democratic rights, one cannot rule out institutions of the state--the bureaucracy with some help from the judiciary--administering another Emergency in one form or another.
This article attempts an analysis of the Indian government's attitudes and stands vis-a-vis the United States, both directly and indirectly, before, during and after prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's visit to Washington and more generally the meaning and implications of the visit for the country's foreign policy.
