POLITICAL SCIENCE OPTIONAL
CHANGING DYNAMICS OF INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY
Note: These are basic write ups, Topics would be discussed in much detail in our Classroom Program.
The foreign policy of a country is the sum total of the principles, interests and objectives which it seeks to promote through its relations with other countries. Foreign Policy is a dynamic concept of international politics. In the altered global scenario of the post -cold war period Indian foreign policy marks a departure from Nehruvian period. India has to deal with complex world which is full of plethora of challenges as well as opportunities.
India’s foreign policy in the 21st Century is appraised due to the interplay of geo-economics with geopolitics and India’s search for a visible and a constructive role on the global map. Present leadership with massive mandate at home is set to discover new vistas in the sphere of foreign relations.
In 1947 India’s foreign policy makers had to deal with a host of challenges: the partition of the country, creation of Pakistan, extreme poverty, military weakness, underdevelopment, backwardness in the core sectors of Indian industries, simmering religious and regional tensions. However, a deep belief in Third World solidarity and cooperation encouraged independent India to establish relations with all of its neighbours and the other newly independent countries of the developing world.
Non –alignment is the doctrinal foundation of India‘s foreign policy. It was adopted by Pt. Nehru to keep away India from cold war bloc politics. Being cardinal base of India’s foreign policy the non-alignment served her interest in post Nehruvian period. But the end of cold war and emergence of unipolar world politics has forced India to bring changes in her foreign policy.
The visible change in India’s foreign policy was apparent from the early 1970s with Indira Gandhi coming to power. Dramatic changes like the first nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1974, India’s role in East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh, close and friendly relations with the Soviet Union were the highlights of this period’s foreign policy.
Later the initiation of the period of liberalization from the early 1990s not only commenced a new period in India’s political and economic growth and development, but the foreign policy sector too witnessed extensive transformations. The second round of nuclear tests in Pokhran in May 1998, in fact, could be the beginning of this pragmatism and proactive materialization of India’s foreign policy.
However in the last two decades the Indian policy establishment has been confronting multiple existential issues and threats: the inevitable rise of China and the intensified US-China competition in the Asia-Pacific, the revival and reconsideration of India’s relations with Africa and the power volatility of the Middle East in the context of sustained energy supply and energy security, expanding and consolidating relations with South East Asia and Japan, dealing with the nuclear issues etc. All these factors deeply influenced in the foreign policy formulation.
In keeping with that quest, India’s multilateral relations with countries around the world have gained tremendous momentum, and in the last decade, India has become a member of a wide array of multilateral bodies in economic and other spheres. India’s participation is visible in a number of such bodies like G-20, BRICS, IBSA, as well as with those fora with pronounced thrust towards economic cooperation like ASEAN, EAS, WTO, BIMSTEC etc.
Another major aspect of India’s foreign policy for some years now has been an attempt to raise India’s profile in the United Nations. India feels that given India’s size as one of the most populated nations in the word, the record of unbroken and smoothly functioning democracy, the contributions that India has made to the United Nations missions worldwide and India’s economic power and influence in the region, India should have a permanent seat at the security council.
It is also obvious that approximately 25 million strong Indian Diaspora has an impact on India’s foreign policy. They are an important factor in the bilateral relationship with the countries where they have a significant presence. They play a particularly important role in soft power diplomacy.
Indian foreign policy is in the throes of change, ever since Narendra Modi assumed charge as Prime Minister in 2014 riding a popular mandate. Just being a balancing force globally, Modi has etched out an assertive role for India that seeks to make it a leading power. This is evident in Modi’s global outreach to clinch India the coveted membership of Missile Technology Control Regime(MTCR), Nuclear Suppliers group(NSG), although China played spoiler in the latter case.
Also When Modi rhetorically replaced two decades of India’s ‘Look East’ policy with ‘Act East,’ the purpose was to show greater intent in realising what had long been an aspiration for India: to become an integral part of Asia.Modi came to power with a “neighbourhood first” agenda. He signalled his commitment by inviting all the leaders of SAARC nations for his inauguration as Prime Minister. His very first bilateral visit in June 2014 was to India’s “best friend” Bhutan and the second in August was to Nepal.
Underlying all these were visits to Japan and various European countries with a view to enticing investors and aid. The visits to the US were a special category, aimed at shoring up ties with the only country that could help India offset Chinese power, and whose friendship opened the doors to many other countries and institutions.
The neighbourhood pattern was repeated in 2015, but this time focusing on the Indian Ocean when there were visits to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka as well as to Bangladesh and Afghanistan. A third set of priorities became visible through Modi’s 2016 visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar. He had already visited the UAE in August 2016, and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan became the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2017.
During Modi’s visit to Iran in May 2016, the geopolitically important Chabahar port agreement was signed by Iran, India and Afghanistan. The visits of the presidents of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to India in December gave impetus to India’s relations with the Central Asian countries. The visit of the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to India in September was important in the context of the turbulent situation in West Asia.
PM Modi’s policies are also designed to attract foreign capital and technology, and seek foreign markets for Indian products, they are also geared towards a closer linkage of regional stability, peace and prosperity. India’s foreign policy under Modi demonstrates a marked change and exceptional dynamism.
But the foreign policy of India also underwent various challenges:
• Relations with Pakistan, always volatile, got more deadlocked during the year as Pakistan-based terrorists attacked Indian military bases in Pathankot, Uri and Nagrota and Nawaz Sharif, upon whose better sense Modi had relied, led a virulent anti-India campaign, including one in the UN, after the killing of Burhan Wani, burying for the time being any hope that he could set India-Pakistan relations on a better course.
• Managing China is the most tedious of all relationships as apart from its global ambitions China through its financial and military muscle and liberal doles has created a strong constituency in India’s neighbourhood that could work at cross purposes with our foreign policy objectives. China’s ‘String of Pearls’ strategy fits well with its China -Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative and Belt & Road projects. In fact, it expands Chinese influence way beyond, much to our strategic discomfort.
• Terrorism has been the biggest threat to India for decades especially from Pakistan sponsored terrorist groups. India’s efforts to get the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN have been stymied by lack of commitment on the part of major countries. Countries like China despite their own exposure to terrorism continue to shield Pakistani terrorists like Masood Azhar, and Russia is averse to declaring Pakistan a terrorism sponsoring state.
• Another challenge to India’s foreign policy, that is to achieve the permanent membership in UN Security Council. ―India formed a group with Germany, Japan and Brazil called G-4, who were equally strong contenders for permanent membership of the Council and vociferously campaigned for more representation to developing countries.
While dwelling on India’s foreign policy challenges in 2017, the biggest challenge that has surfaced in years is that India’s political Opposition’s failure to present a united bipartisan front on India’s foreign policy and India’s national security challenges. It affects India’s national image which is an important foreign policy input for Major Powers as they devise their Indian policies.
Foreign policy is changeable; it changes with time and circumstances. India s policy planner brought changes in foreign policy according to changed world scenario. With her long-term and short-term national interest, India’s foreign policy becomes closer to realistic approach. But it is hard to say that, the idealistic components of India s foreign policy are just irrelevant.The way in which the interaction between India and the rest of the world evolves will have a bearing both on India’s development and the resolution of significant global challenges.
