ISAS Insights

India’s ‘Look East’ Policy is aimed to integrate it more closely with its Eastern neighbourhood in the post-Cold War globalising world order. After almost two decades, it is important to reflect on the scope of the policy and shape that it should assume in the days to come. This paper argues that while economic benefits from the policy have been substantive and visible, it is essential for India to decide whether it wishes to play a more strategically proactive role in Asia-Pacific in future. In this regard India must realise that in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the rise of the East is accompanied by a strategic marginalisation of the West.