‘A lofty Asia and the profound East’

The concept of “Asia” is marked by competing interpretations and alternatives, reflecting the fluidity and complexity of regions in world politics. While political geographers and critical geopolitics scholars have explored this versatility, mainstream International Relations often treats regions as fixed, geographically determined entities. This approach not only overlooks how people within these regions perceive and identify them but also neglects the political processes that transform geographic spaces into regions. This chapter examines the process of “region-building” in which states and political elites actively construct regions through discourse and practice, effectively “speaking and writing” them into existence. Drawing on the concept of a post-war Asia in the Indian imagination in the 20th century, it explores how Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, envisioned Asia and its role in shaping future International Relations in a world at the behest of the atomic bomb. Nehru's vision of Asia rested on three key principles: fostering lateral engagement among Asian nations as opposed to its vertical orientation emanating from its subordinate engagement with European imperial powers; establishing the region as free from foreign intervention, rejecting the fragmentation caused by colonial rule; and promoting Asia as an “area of peace” amidst the escalating tensions of the Cold War. By tracing the evolution of Nehru's ideas from the interwar period to the early Cold War, the chapter analyses their origins, development, and challenges, including the setback posed by India's 1962 war with China. Despite these obstacles, the chapter argues that Nehru's Asia project was not a failure but a significant and enduring effort that continues to shape India's regional imagination.