India as an international power : A case study on India's exercise of power

This thesis examines India’s exercise of its powers that it utilizes in its foreign policy on the international arena. The aim of the study is to determine what international power India can be classified as, and whether it achieves the goals of either being a great- or superpower. This is done by analysing not only the conventional concept of power, that being the hard power concept, but also the relatively newly conceived concept of soft power, originally conceived by the American political scientist Joseph Nye in the 1990s. Therefore, the research methodology is comprised of a theory consuming case study. The following question is being asked: What kind of international power is India? The conclusions being presented illustrate a foreign policy limited in its scope of influence, plagued mostly by institutional impediments due to limited budgets and thus limited resources in both concepts of power. Consequently, India cannot be classified either as a superpower nor a greatpower, but more as a regional one