A country’s stature in global politics is often determined by its popular image and public perceptions, as reflected in global media. While ‘nation branding’ as a term and a tool of analysis in Social Sciences has emerged prominently since the 1990s, the practice of ‘positive’ projection of states, regions and locality along with non-state institutions has deeper historical roots. Apart from nation branding, the cultural turn in ‘International Relations’ has led to popularisation of analytical concepts like ‘soft power’ and ‘civilisation’ or ‘civilisational states.’

The present work focuses on two of these concepts: ‘nation branding’ and ‘civilisation state’ and traces the historical process of evolution in Indian nation building project. It analyses the evolving concept of ‘civilisation state’ and its association with the strong urge for autonomy along with the self-perception of national and cultural greatness shared by the Indian elite leading to a search for identity and recognition of the intra-regional and extra-regional linkages in terms of shared cultural and historical identity. It also looks into the process of continuity from independence to present times and to what extent this has influenced Indian elite thinking and conceptualisation of India’s status in global affairs.

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Shantanu Chakrabarti is Professor in the Department of History, University of Calcutta, India. He is the Honorary President of the Association of European Studies in India (AESI). He has been a Research Fellow in the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, India (2007-08). He was awarded the Bene Merito medal by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Poland in 2014.