[eChapters]Three Sides in Search of a Triangle: Singapore-America-India Relations (State of Play)

Singapore is America's closest security partner in Southeast Asia. The United States has decided to help India become a major world power in the 21st century, an objective that is furthered by the nuclear agreement between them. Singapore's relationship with India is an increasingly pertinent feature of Southeast Asias political and strategic landscape. Whether these three realities, taken together, lay the basis of a triangular relationship among Singapore, America, and India is the question that this book seeks to answer. The book begins with a review of the notion of Pax Americana and goes on to describe the state of bilateral relations among the three countries as they have evolved since the end of the Cold War. Subsequently, it analyses three core issues the Global War on Terror, the rise of China, and the agency of democracy in international relations that play a defining role in relations among Singapore, the United States, and India. The book concludes by suggesting some directions in which these relations might move.