Anatomy of an Elite. The Influence of members of the Indian Civil Service on the foreign policy of independent India

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marc Frey
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Asian Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253176845

The research project intends to investigate the influence of the officers of the Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.) on the foreign affairs of independent India. This administrative elite had been trained by the British. The focus is firstly on a detailed analysis of the views of the Indian members of that service regarding politics and international relations during the colonial period. Besides an ambivalent relationship towards the colonial power anti-communism and anti-Americanism seem to have been typical features. Secondly it is intended to investigate to what extent these attitudes can be traced in Indian foreign policy after 1947, after former I.C.S. officers took over the top ranks of the Ministry of External Affairs and most of the missions abroad. Of particular interest are the conflicts between the ideas of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his main advisor Krishna Menon, who shared a scepticism of the US, but not towards the socialist countries. The research project is based on official documents of British India and of the Ministry of External Affairs together with private papers of a number of I.C.S. officers, which are in parts accessible exclusively to the prospective researcher.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants