A Glance at India's Regional Cooperation Approach in the Persian Gulf

As one of the largest developing countries, India has been trying in recent years to play a more crucial role for securing its national interest and protecting national security in two regional and international spheres. The Persian Gulf as such represents one of the most important and closest regions of strategic significance in Indian regional security discussion. This article mainly intends to examine the framework for India’s policies and strategies for enlarging relations with the oil and gas producing countries in the Persian Gulf as well as establishing regional stability for continued access to such resources. The role played by the structure of international system in shaping these strategies and policies will be also explored. From this perspective, the main hypothesis of the paper includes that Indian efforts at expanding regional cooperation with the Persian Gulf nations has been influenced by the structure of the international system, shifting from the pattern of interdependence to arising pattern of constructive identity with reference to the values governing international relations at present. The impact of such a shift in Indian foreign policy on its relations with the Persian Gulf countries particularly with Iran will be also examined in the article.