India as a rising power in Afghanistan post-2001 : can status explain it better?

Abstract

Evaluating India's involvement in Afghanistan post-2001, this dissertation proposes that the Indian approach towards this country can be captured more comprehensively using the concept of status. As a catch-all concept, status can account for both the material and ideological dimensions of interactions between actors in the global order. Consequently, this concept becomes an effective analytical tool that can allow this research to locate the material and ideological factors that have informed India's Afghanistan policy in the post-2001 era in a more holistic manner. It is proposed that in using status as an analytical category, this dissertation will provide a complementary approach to the existing schools of thought in international relations for evaluating India's engagements with other states (and non-state actors) in general.