Reconstructing India’s Worldview: A Strategic Realignment offers a timely and compelling re-examination of India’s place in the world. Moving beyond conventional Eurocentric frameworks, the volume advances an India-centric perspective on diplomacy, strategy, and global leadership. Anchored in the argument that India is not merely an “emerging” power but a “re-emerging” one, the book underscores the civilizational depth and historical influence that continue to shape India’s contemporary foreign policy choices.

The volume opens with a foreword by Professor Harsh V. Pant and an introduction by Professor Chetan B. Singai, setting the stage for a rich exploration of how India sees the world, and how the world perceives India. Structured around two key themes, the book first advances indigenous frameworks, narratives, and terminologies for international engagement, before turning to questions of strategic culture and thought in a rapidly evolving global order. Chapters examine India’s maritime strategy, Indo-Pacific partnerships, cyber diplomacy, gendered foreign policy, regional security outlook, and emphasis on non-Western theories, offering diverse perspectives from leading academics and practitioners.

A unifying thread across the contributions is the 3Cs: Challenges, Change, and Choices, which capture the dilemmas India faces as it navigates shifting geopolitics, technological disruption, and new domains of power. The book argues that the decisions India makes today will define not only its own trajectory but also the contours of global order in the 21st century.

Bridging theory and practice, this book is indispensable reading for scholars, policymakers, and students of international relations. By providing a fresh India-centric lens, it not only fills a critical gap in existing literature but also lays the groundwork for reimagining India’s global engagement in an age of multipolarity.

Chetan Singai obtained his doctoral degree (Ph.D.) from NIAS, IISC, Bengaluru, India. He completed his M.Phil. in Law and Governance at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU, New Delhi; and his Master’s in Political Science from the Centre for Political Studies, JNU, New Delhi. He received the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to pursue a Master’s in Lifelong Learning, Policy and Management, a joint degree from the University of London (UK), University of Aarhus (Denmark) and University of Deusto (Spain). Chetan has worked as Assistant Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru and St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Bengaluru. He has been at DAAD visiting-faculty Julius-Maximilians University, Germany, from 2014 to 2017. He is a recipient of the Social Justice Medal awarded by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Govt of India (GoI), for his service towards Human Rights and Women Empowerment, from the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in 2007. He has worked as a Policy Analyst at the Directorate of Education and Culture, European Commission, Bruxelles, Belgium. He has served as Member, Academic Council, Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KRIES), Government of Karnataka. He was nominated as Member, TS Committee to Finalize the Draft NEP 2020, constituted by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Govt of India (2019–2020). He was associated with the Committee to Draft the NEP, 2017-2019 (Padma Vibhushan  Dr K. Kasturirangan), MoE, Govt of India, New Delhi as Chief Consultant (Technical Secretariat at NAAC, Bengaluru). He was appointed as Special Officer, Dept of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, from 2021-2022. He is nominated as Chief Consultant and Convenor, Technical Secretariat, National Steering Committee-National Curriculum Framework, MoE, Govt of India. He has published two books and more than 25 national and international articles in peer-reviewed journals on higher education, space policy and human rights issues.

Gargi Shanbhag is currently working as a Research Assistant under the School of Law, Governance and Public Policy’s Subhas Chandra Bose Chair on International Relations. She is an alumna of Manipal Academy of Higher Education’s Department of Geopolitics and International Relations (IR), where she completed her M.A. in Geopolitics and IR. Her research interests include majorly non-Western perspective to international relations. Besides she also closely follows and works on Indo-Pacific geopolitics, religious terrorism and extremism, India’s national security, defence and military modernization, among others. Her research work includes an issue brief on India’s Withdrawal from RCEP: A Vantage For China in the Region? (2025) as well as a journal article, published in MP-IDSA’s Journal of Defence Studies, titled Geopolitics of IPR: Implications on India’s National Security (2024), and a book chapter titled An Assessment of the E3’s Perception of India as a Great Power (2023). She also writes for Firstpost, The Sunday Guardian, The Diplomatist, and others. A few of her notable op-ed works include Bangladesh at Crossroads: The Rise of Political Islam,’ India in Asia Power Index 2024; The missing dimensions. She tweets at @gargispeaks on X (formerly Twitter)