India’s Policy Towards the European Union in the Post-Cold War Era: Partners in the Liberal Order?

This book charts the remarkable evolution of New Delhi’s engagement with the European Union from economic pragmatism to comprehensive strategic partnership. Through rigorous analysis of political dialogues, trade negotiations, and security cooperation from 1991 to present day, the book reveals how India progressively recognized the EU’s collective weight in global governance, distinct from its bilateral ties with individual European states. The study highlights pivotal moments where Brussels’ institutional influence and Delhi’s great-power ambitions converged and explains limitations of their cooperation in the liberal order.

The volume will be of great interest to scholars of international institutions, comparative regionalism, and India’s global strategy. Researchers examining how middle powers engage with hybrid actors like the EU--neither a traditional state nor a conventional international organization--will find this an indispensable case study. Policymakers navigating contemporary geopolitical realignments will gain critical insights into EU-India coordination on non-proliferation, climate action, and strategic autonomy debates.

Patryk Kugiel (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor the Warsaw University (Poland) and a Research Fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw. His research focuses on Indian foreign policy, South Asia and EU policy towards Asia and the Indo-Pacific. He is an author of dozens of academic articles, policy papers, book chapters and a monograph on India’s Soft Power: A New Foreign Policy Strategy (2016).