The world’s most important geopolitical relationship is clearly that between China and the United States. But over time India will grow into an important global power too, transforming Asia’s balance of power into a complex triangular affair. And few writers have examined the often-dramatic changes in India’s recent foreign policy more closely, and with more success, than Raja Mohan.

For the past four years, Mohan has led the Institute of South Asian Studies, a research institute tucked away in a distant corner of the main campus of the National University of Singapore. Although perhaps best known for his weekly columns in the Indian Express, he has also written more than half a dozen books, all probing the same basic question: what kind of great power will India eventually become?

• Tags: India, Issue 26, James Crabtree, Raja Mohan