Abstract: The article presents the role of the Indian National Congress Party in development of India's foreign and domestic policy. The subject of the study is the principles of establishment of the party, examined within the framework of two periods of development and peculiarities of establishment of the political organization. The first period (1877-1946) lasts from origination of the party and activation of the national liberation movement of India until the declaration of independence; the second period (1947-2014) isa period of party’s dominance in the political life of India. The author conducted a comparative analysis of activity of the most influential party leaders: Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Narasimh Rao, Kesri Singh, S. Gandhi, M. Singh, and Rajiv Gandhi. The scientific novelty consists in determination of the factors that contributed to consolidation of the leading positions of the party, as well as its subsequent shift to opposition. Special attention is given to examination of the results of elections, since the first elections in 1951, when the Indian National Congress started gaining its reputation in the parliament, all the way until 2014, when the party lost in the elections, yielding its position to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Abstract: The author outlines and studies the origins and reasons of wars (of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999) and conflicts between India and Pakistan from 1947 till the present time. The author considers the role of the UN Security Council in the settlement of armed conflicts between the countries. Among the key reasons of confrontation between the states, the author outlines the struggle for the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, religious contradictions, disputes over water resources, India’s interference in the conflict between West and East Pakistan in 1971, nuclear tests from 1974 till 1998, struggle for the Siachen Glacier from 1984 till 1987, repeated crossing of the Line of Control by Pakistani troops, etc. The research methodology is based on the historical method, comparative, structural-functional and system analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction. The author emphasizes the existing tension between the countries, caused by religious contradictions, differences in economic situation in the countries, the unsettled territorial dispute over the demarcation Line of Control, China’s influence on the Pakistani government, which aggravates the contradictions between the countries and the possibility of its reduction through the participation of the countries in the SCO.