Publication

This paper assesses the significance and implications of India’s decision to abstain from supporting a resolution against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014. The author argues that this move marks a shift in India’s position and indicates a willingness to move from diaspora politics –supporting the ethnic Indian minority of the Sri Lankan Tamils in their opposition to the government - to realpolitik. He also discusses the factors that may have contributed to this decision, including India’s defense of a Westphalian conception of sovereignty and geopolitical calculations.