David C. Engerman

This study explores the global dimensions of the Cold War by integrating the perspective of the Third World. Specifically, it traces India’s efforts, under leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, to navigate between divergent Cold War visions in pursuit of Indian dreams of economic and political modernity. Examining new archival sources on Soviet and American efforts to bring India into closer alliance, the project also incorporates insights of the Subaltern School and its reconceptualization of postcolonial state-building. It builds on scholarship from various subfields of history, political science, and economics to present a new approach to understanding the global implications of American-Soviet conflict in the latter half of the twentieth century.