Read more
To Raise a Fallen People brings to light pioneering writing on international politics from nineteenth-century India. Drawing on extensive archival research, it unearths essays, speeches, and pamphlets that address fundamental questions about Indiäs place in the world.
List of contents
Preface
Editorial Note
Introduction
Part I: Regaining Greatness
1. English Education
2. Sea Voyages
Part II: Critiques
3. The Great Game
4. The Eastern Question
5. Free Trade
6. Racism
7. The Opium Trade
Part III: The Great Debate
8. To Learn from the West
9. To Teach the West
Further Reading
Index
About the author
Rahul Sagar is Global Network Associate Professor of Political Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. His books include Secrets and Leaks: The Dilemma of State Secrecy (2013) and The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government (2022).
Summary
To Raise a Fallen People brings to light pioneering writing on international politics from nineteenth-century India. Drawing on extensive archival research, it unearths essays, speeches, and pamphlets that address fundamental questions about India’s place in the world. In these texts, prominent public figures urge their compatriots to learn English and travel abroad to study, debate whether to boycott foreign goods, differ over British imperialism in Afghanistan and China, demand that foreign policy toward the Middle East and South Africa account for religious and ethnic bonds, and query whether to adopt Western values or champion their own civilizational ethos.
Rahul Sagar’s detailed introduction contextualizes these documents and shows how they fostered competing visions of the role that India ought to play on the world stage. This landmark book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the sources of Indian conduct in international politics.
Additional text
By bringing forth hitherto less-known insightful articles, the book challenges the prevailing wisdom that India had no tradition of scholarship in international relations. The essays in this volume shed light on a variety of approaches Indian intellectuals held on international issues prior to the independence struggle which started in earnest in the 1920s. It shows the connections between nineteenth and twentieth-century thinking, reflecting an evolutionary process in Indian views on world affairs. A must read for scholars and practitioners alike.
