India vs UK: The Story of an Unprecedented Diplomatic Win

Telling stories about institutions is about shoring up their foundations and building on their edifices.’ From the uprising of 1857 and the freedom movement to duels on the cricket pitch, India and the United Kingdom have been on opposing sides on numerous occasions. A relatively unknown instance when this dynamic played out was the 2017 election for a seat at the International Court of Justice, one of the main organs of the United Nations. Unwilling at first, India was prompted to enter the ring in the wake of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, which proved the importance of having an Indian judge at the court. The contest that followed was like a ‘second war of Independence’, in the words of then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and a David-and-Goliath fight against the permanent members of the Security Council, who all put their might behind the UK. In India vs UK, Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN at the time, presents a compelling behind-the-scenes account of India’s coming-of-age in world affairs through the prism of this momentous election, and a fascinating view of the inner workings of the United Nations.