Exceptionalism in Indian Diplomacy: The Origins of India's Moral Leadership Aspirations

Indian diplomacy has often been accused of carrying a ‘moralising tone’. This article examines the roots of ideas of exceptionalism in Indian diplomacy, particularly those centring on India's moral leadership aspirations. By exploring the discourses, identities and institutions that shaped Indian diplomacy and diplomatic institutions in the decades before and after Independence, it shows how Indian diplomats drew lines of comparison between their nation and others, understood India's global standing, and conceived of special moral responsibilities for India in world politics. Since moral leadership aspirations persist as a component of Indian foreign policy today, a historical and institutional analysis of diplomatic self-understandings can be of contemporary relevance to scholars and practitioners seeking to understand India's increasingly influential global role.