The book focuses, through multiple levels of international reality, on the pervasive and widespread effect of the Syrian civil war on the unravelling of established norms---both global or national--- which have determined international relations during the last seven decades. It postulates that since 2011, the Syrian situation has catalysed the breakdown of the international system based on the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. The core international values fostered by that system now laid waste, among others, are sovereignty, non-interference, sanctity of UN Security Council approval for waging war, human rights, protection of civilian populations, and the right of people to choose their own governments/leaders. By making the UNSC powerless in providing humanitarian assistance or fostering cease-fire and peace-making it has called into question the principles which have been held immutable for seventy years. More importantly, these norms have been breached by their originators. The book takes a wider perspective melding together the civil war's international, regional and national consequences to understand how and why this one event has radiated profound consequences for the international system.

How has India's foreign policy evolved in the seventy years since Independence? For that matter, what is the country's foreign policy? And what are the aspects that determine and shape it? If you've had questions such as these, Rajendra Abhyankar's Indian Diplomacy is the foreign policy primer you've been looking for. Charting the country's interactions with other countries from the early days of independence to now, Indian Diplomacy reviews the changes in stance. Lucidly written and well argued, the book covers these and other questions comprehensively, without fuss or bombast. A much-needed book in light of the sweeping changes on the global stage-and India's increasing role in them.