THE WORLD AS IT IS

These three books cover a wide swathe of Indian foreign policy today: our multilateral approaches and postures; our immediate neighbour to the north—Nepal; and the country every foreign office focuses on—China.

Former Permanent Representative to the UN Akbaruddin’s book describes the election for an Indian judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2017. While the outcome is known, his animated and event-filled narrative maintains dramatic tension to the end. In early 2016, the ICJ was not even on the government’s radar. Things changed as the Kulbhusan Jadhav case made the ICJ more valuable than simply a comfortable perch for an Indian judge. Even so, by the time India announced its candidature in mid-2017, with the elections due in November, much time had