March 2007

The Joint Declaration signed on July 18, 2005, by President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been heralded in some quarters as the equivalent of President Richard Nixon’s opening to China. The opening to China under President Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger provides some illumination on the current attempts to negotiate a “strategic partnership” with India. In both cases, expectations ran high as to what the two countries might accomplish in a new partnership. Both “openings” also were informed by an underlying strategic logic. America must enlist allies to secure its interests and sustain the U.S.-led world order that has been the basis of global economic development and relative peace for over sixty years. And in both cases, American strategists believe that the ultimate solution lies in the eventual democratization of the regions and countries that pose overriding threats. India may prove a partner in confronting both of these challenges.