Kautilya and Non-Western IR theory

Kautilya’s Arthashastra, after its rediscovery in 1905, became an important reference point for the nationalist discourse in India. The treatise, with its foundational roots in the third-century BCE, helped the nationalists discover self-esteem and confidence. It was instrumental in breaking the mental barriers forged by the colonialist discourse that instilled an intellectual and political inferiority among Indians. Arthashastra, though set in different time and socio-political context, became a proof of India’s glorious but forgotten tradition of political and economic thought.