India's First Diplomat: V.S. Srinivasa Sastri and the Making of Liberal Internationalism

by Vineet Thakur

Overview

V.S. Srinivasa Sastri was a celebrated Indian politician and diplomat in the early twentieth century. Despite being hailed as the ‘very voice of international conscience’, he is now a largely forgotten figure. This book rehabilitates Sastri and offers a diplomatic biography of his years as India’s roving ambassador in the 1920s. It examines his involvement in key conferences and agreements, as well as his achievements in advocating for racial equality and securing the rights of Indians both at home and abroad. It also illuminates the darker side of being a native diplomat, including the risk of legitimizing the colonial project and the contradictions of being treated as an equal on the world stage while lacking equality at home. In retrieving the legacy of Sastri, the book shows that liberal internationalism is not the preserve of western powers and actors – where it too often represents imperialism by other means – but a commitment to social progress fought at multiple sites and by many protagonists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529217667
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vineet Thakur is UniversityLecturer at the Institute for History at Leiden University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Native Diplomat Shirtless Srinivasan A Worthy Successor to Gokhale The Silver-Tongued Orator The Most Picturesque Figure A Rather Dangerous Ambassador Like the Anger of Rudra An Honourable Compromise A Trustee of India’s Honour We Have No Sastri Conclusion: An Amiable Usurper

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Straddling the liminal spaces of diplomatic history and biography, Vineet Thakur crafts a fascinating narrative of a discerning but overlooked figure of early twentieth-century liberal internationalism, V.S. Srinivasa Sastri.” Siddharth Mallavarapu, Shiv Nadar University

“Vineet Thakur guides us through the labyrinthine world of interwar diplomacy. In this well-researched and globe-spanning biography of V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, he colourfully reveals the many twists and turns India took as it oscillated between striving to be accepted into the world of imperial supremacy and realizing the need to fight it.” Manu Bhagavan, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Editorial Reviews

By bringing out critiques of Sastri from within his contemporaries – Congress statesmen and India’s leading political thinkers – the book succeeds in decolonising pre-independence Indian diplomacy, thus far, a field too deeply entrenched in India’s colonial past.” H-Soz-Kult "[A] most enjoyable treasure box of a book… [this] well-researched and elegantly written monograph covers everything in terms of Sastri's political life" - Amit Das Gupta, Sehepunkte

From the Publisher