| Summary/Abstract |
The relationship between India and the United States has transformed significantly since the Cold War, notwithstanding the denial regime imposed after the 1998 nuclear tests. In the complex 21st-century environment, both countries have articulated their strategic outreaches spanning the new geographical construct of a maritime configured Indo-Pacific. This article examines the coherence, correspondence and divergence in the approaches and the institutions of relevance in India's “Act East” and the US “Strategic Rebalance” through the “interest contiguity” paradigm. The salient aspects examined are the politico-diplomatic, economic and military security dimensions, by using a combinational of realist and rational choice theoretical prisms. The paper concludes that while there is a virtual coincidence of “interests’” between India and the US, their approaches and institutional frameworks are different in certain cases, driven by respective geopolitical, geoeconomic and geostrategic imperatives. The emerging positivity in the Indo–US relationship, like many other important engagements across the Indo-Pacific, will continue to contain a mix of cooperation and competition, which is not unusual and offers avenues for further strengthening of coordinated endeavours.
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