Building a think tank

Sapru House: A Story of Institution-Building in World Affairs

Author: TCA Raghavan and Vivek Mishra

Publisher: KW Publishers

Pages:  228

Price: Rs 980

How did the study of international relations and foreign policy gain a foothold in India? Who were some of the people involved in institutionalising this study in a newly independent nation-state? What overlaps were seen between the worlds of academic scholarship, policymaking and realpolitik? If these questions interest you, read T C A Raghavan and Vivek Mishra’s new book Sapru House: A Story of Institution-Building in World Affairs.

This volume meticulously traces the history of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) — headquartered at Sapru House in New Delhi — using the institution’s own archives. It was established in 1943 as a non-profit organisation without government patronage, and maintained its independence from government even after 1947. Now it is funded by the Ministry of External Affairs but enjoys autonomy. This book discusses this transition in detail.

What kind of expertise do these two authors bring to the table? 

Dr Raghavan was the Director General of the ICWA from 2018 to 2021. Before that, he served as the Indian high commissioner to Singapore and Pakistan. He is trained as a historian. Dr Mishra is a research fellow at the ICWA, and has been a fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington DC and a doctoral research scholar at the School of International Public Affairs at Columbia University.

The authors recall that the ICWA was established “amidst the geopolitical churn represented by the Second World War and an intensified nationalist ferment.” It was presided over by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, and convened by Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru. Both these men were Kashmiris, and members of the National Liberal Federation. Sapru served as the ICWA’s president from 1943 to 1947, while Kunzru was the President from 1948 to 1975.

Given the profusion of think tanks in contemporary India, it might seem difficult to imagine what the ICWA’s foundational moment was like. The authors spell out why it was set up in the first place. It was meant to help “develop a body of informed opinion on world affairs and India’s relations thereto, through study, research, discussions, lectures, exchange of ideas and information etc. with other bodies in India and abroad engaged in similar activities.”

Readers who are toying with the idea of setting up similar institutions might find this book particularly useful as the authors are quite candid in articulating all the challenges that come up with such an ambitious enterprise. The ICWA soon realised that limiting its activities to Delhi would prevent it from becoming a pan-India body. To remedy the situation, branches of the institution were set up in 35 cities, each with its locally elected executive committee.

Going by this book, the branches were quite active in organising debates. In 1945, at the Bombay branch, Congress leader Acharya Narendra Deo — who was an internationalist —argued that India, “while striving for her own freedom should not forget its neighbours but should follow a good neighbour policy entering into unofficial non-aggression pacts and pacts of friendship.” Interestingly, the ICWA also had branches in Lahore, Karachi and Dacca but the authors do not dwell on what happened to these branches after the Partition of 1947.

The institutional history that this book offers is far from being staid and self-congratulatory. It shows what it takes to build an institution — public service, knowledge production, regional and international linkages, procurement of funds, a long-term lease, goodwill, conflict resolution, and tough decisions that are not likely to be appreciated by all stakeholders.

The authors do not shy away from addressing conflicts and controversies that have been part of the ICWA’s history, including its relationship with the Indian School of International Studies that began as an initiative of the ICWA but broke away to join Jawaharlal Nehru University. The word “Indian” was dropped from the school’s name. The authors also speak about the heartache that ensued when splitting the Sapru Library collection came up for discussion.

All organisations have tales that are worth telling. Drs Raghavan and Mishra have managed to highlight some that illustrate why the ICWA has had a significant place in Delhi’s intellectual and political circles. In 1947, when Angadipuram Appadorai, one of the ICWA’s founders, hosted the Asian Relations Conference, the Muslim League decided to boycott it. Muhammad Ali Jinnah even issued an advisory asking Arab nations not to participate in it.

The book also provides a glimpse of what happens when research institutions get caught up in “intensely contested and pitched election battles for posts”, and members who are not even remotely interested in academic study are recruited to constitute an easy vote-bank. Eventually, in 1990, the ICWA was declared an Institution of National Importance. It was taken over by the Government of India, and handed over to the Ministry of External Affairs.

The authors have helpful recommendations on the ICWA’s future role “as a publicly funded think tank” but it remains to be seen whether the institution will be able to keep its identity separate from the ideology of the ruling party in the coming years.