Description
Foreign policy has essentially remained as the domain of the Centre. The constitution of India gave little roles to the constituent states in the making and articulation of foreign policy. While the de jure status remains the same, the de facto expansion has happened with the states’ insidiously playing a more active role in foreign policy making since the end of the cold war, including on issues as diverse as trade, water-sharing, climate change and refugees. Of recent, however, there is an attempt by the Centre to impose a more unitary mode of federalism. The paper will grapple with this puzzle, while attempting to trace the trajectory of Indian federalism. The paper seeks to address the changing dynamics in the character of Indian federalism. The change indicates a shift from the domination by the Centre to a phase that witnessed an assertion of the federating units, and then a reassertion of unitary tendencies by the Centre. The paper further examines the course that the Centre-state relations would chart in the future.
