Aug 05 2025 to Aug 05 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Scholars of international relations, political thought, and India’s diplomatic history continue to debate the meaning and relevance of non-alignment in India’s foreign policy today. The origins of these debates lie in Jawaharlal Nehru’s articulation of non-alignment at the height of the Cold War, a concept both resolute and ambiguous.

In this talk, Dr. Swapna Kona Nayudu will draw on her acclaimed book, The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment, to explore how India shaped and deployed this distinctive strategy between 1947 and 1964. Based on meticulous archival research in multiple languages, her work uncovers India’s diplomatic role in pivotal global events such as the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, the Hungarian Revolution, and the Congo Crisis.

Tracing the evolution of non-alignment from Nehru’s time to the present, Dr. Nayudu will examine its contested meaning, its influence on India’s position as the only non-aligned founding member of the UN, and its continuing resonance as India navigates a complex multipolar world.

Dr. Nayudu will be in conversation with Jahnavi Phalke. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Speakers

Swapna Kona Nayudu
Historian & Global Affairs Scholar
Swapna Kona Nayudu was, until recently, Lecturer of Global Affairs, Yale-NUS College, Singapore. She is a member of the Advisory Board, Harvard University Association for Global Political Thought. Swapna took her PhD in War Studies from King’s College London. Swapna’s work is most centrally focused on the politically transformative nature of war, and she conducts archival research with textual and oral histories in 14 languages. The Nehru Years is her first book.

Jahnavi Phalkey
Filmmaker & Historian of Science & Technology
Jahnavi Phalkey is founding director, Science Gallery Bengaluru. Phalkey was faculty at King’s College London before taking on her current role. She is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and co-edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. Jahnavi is editor-in-chief of the British Journal for the History of Science Themes and of South Asian Studies. She is also director and producer of the documentary film, Cyclotron. Jahnavi holds a master’s degree in politics from the University of London, and a doctoral degree in the history of science and technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Jahnavi was awarded the Infosys Prize in Humanities (2023).