The 1971 war between India and Pakistan, and the subsequent establishment of Bangladesh, has forced a general rethinking of world politics. The war is too recent to judge any long-range consequences, but the resulting new atmosphere in India itself has raised fundamental issues of theory and practice to which non-Indians should be alerted.

The moral conception that India had of herself— the heritage of nonalignment, Gandhism and neutralism—has been transformed radically by India's newly discovered power and military achievements. In light of Goa, the earlier Pakistan conflicts and the China invasion, her ambiguous tradition has made India seem hypocritical, preaching one thing and readily practicing another.