© Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies, Visit: cseaps.edu.in Mapping India’s Look East to Act East Policy : The Security Dimension Mohd. Usman Bhatti * Abstract The end of Cold War and the intensification of the process of globalization pressed the policy makers in India to unveil the country’s inward structured economy into the global market. As a part of its larger outward shift, India’s “Look East Policy” aimed at accelerating its economic relations with the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), remains at its centre. The Look East Policy has been perceived in 1991 to end New Delhi’s isolation from the economically vibrant region of Southeast Asia. While the economic aspects have remained a dominant policy view in the initial years of India’s Look East Policy, New Delhi over the years has also engaged the Southeast Asian countries in the area of defence and security especially in the arena of maritime security. In the emerging milieu, the countries in the region have welcomed India to play a power balancing role in the region’s geopolitical, security and strategic settings. This paper aims to examine India’s foreign policy towards Southeast Asia with a particular focus on security dimension. The paper first reviews the historical basis of the Look East Policy and ------------ * Mohd. Usman Bhatti, ICSSR Doctoral Student, Department of Political Science, Hyderabad Central University. Email: usmanhcu@gmail.com. ISSN 0975-6035 Volume 12, No.1, January-June 2018, pp.58-96 http://cseaps.edu.in/areastudies/index.html