India Walking a Tightrope : A case study of the U.S. influence on India’s policies towards Iran

In this thesis I have investigated the degree of U.S. influence on India’s room of manoeuvre with regard to Iran. India has several incentives to maintain relations with both countries, but the U.S. wants India to help it isolate Iran. I have analysed three cases where India has been faced with the dilemma of having to deal with Iran while being subjected to U.S. pressure. I have assessed whether U.S. influence has been a decisive factor behind India’s choice of policy towards Iran. The three cases that have been analysed are the votes against Iran in the IAEA in 2005 and 2006, the Iran—Pakistan—India Pipeline Project, and the developments linked to the North South Transport Corridor. A theoretical framework based on Samuel Bacharach and Edward Lawler’s Dependence Approach and David Singer’s Inter-Nation Influence model has been used to investigate the nature and the effects of U.S. influence. India’s interests and concerns, which make up its room of manoeuvre, have also been identified, and function as control variables. The findings indicate that the U.S. has some degree of influence on India’s policies towards Iran. U.S. influence attempts are more likely to be successful if the U.S. has a specific source of leverage; the U.S. commitment to its preferred outcome is undivided; there are alternative solutions to the issue in question that would bypass Iran; a small array of interests are involved and when the U.S. influence attempts are directed at reinforcing rather than modifying India’s behaviour