One of the key areas where the new government has focused aggressively
is the area of external affairs. Prime Minister Naarendra Modi has shown
initiative in framing the present geoeconomic and geopolitical
challenges from India’s viewpoint. The rationale seems to be to aim for
strategic speed in the initial years of the government and thereby to
create strategic space for long-term gain and advantage. Nation states
tend to be concerned about their individual competitive advantage for
growth, wealth and prosperity. Part of this has to do with avoiding
confrontation while pursuing one’s national interest. It involves
diplomacy while engaging and collaborating with other nation states on
issues of strategic and economic importance.
Over the past seven
months, since Modi assumed office, his focus to a large extent has been
on geoeconomic and geopolitical engagement to further India’s strategic
interests. One cannot find fault with such an approach as it is
imperative that India shows initiative for ensuring regional security
and world engagement. The idea of Non-alignment - the overarching
ideological framework propounded during the Nehru era - was replaced by a
sort of Re-alignment, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Realignment’ took greater root after India set on its path of
liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). It has now been
replaced by Multi-alignment - a framework for engaging with various
nation states conducting vigorous foreign policy initiatives aimed at
securing strategic and economic objectives. It is being witnessed with
India wanting to engage with China, US and Russia almost simultaneously
since Modi took over.
Multi-alignment in the past gained much
traction with the engagement of US and the Indo-US relationship being
described by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as one involving
‘natural allies’. During UPA-1, a significant breakthrough was made by
prime minister Manmohan Singh in the area of Civil Nuclear Agreement
with the US, aimed at ending the nuclear apartheid that India had been
facing since the late 1960’s. The vigour that was seen lacking in UPA2
on the foreign policy front is now being reignited under PM Modi’s
direct engagement in foreign affairs. There are four broad points about
India’s recent geoeconomic and geopolitical engagement that merit
attention:
First, India is looking at its neighbourhood for
greater participation. It was illustrated in the step initially to call
the heads of all the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation) countries aimed at building trust and achieving strategic
and economic objectives. The initial trips to Bhutan and Nepal were
meant to not only further India’s strategic interests but also gain
their confidence for positive engagement and ensuring peace and
prosperity within the region. The visits were also seen as being
proactive in the immediate neighborhood and in providing an alternative
to the Chinese hegemony over the region.
Second, Modi has stated
conversion of the ‘Look East’ policy to ‘Act East’ policy. It was spelt
out during the East Asia Summit and includes engagement with Myanmar
over the highway project linking the two countries along with Thailand,
asking ASEAN nations to Make in India and the like. The coming days will
show how various measures under the ‘Act East’ policy are implemented
in practice and what results do these measures yield for greater
stability and order in Asia. Similarly, during the Australian (for the
G-20 Summit) and Fijian visits, Modi addressed their parliaments as the
first Indian prime minister to do so. There was renewed hope of active
engagement on issues like black money, nuclear energy, information
technology, defense training and the like during these visits. All these
steps reflect interest among the international community for a stronger
and rising India.
Third, a distinct departure from the previous
governments has been in focusing on deliverables during visits rather
than just talks/photo ops/steps ahead. It was seen during Modi's state
visit to Japan where when his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, pledged
approximately $35 billion for boosting India’s ailing infrastructure.
Similarly, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his recent visit to
India, pledged investments of $20 billion. Also, in the recently
concluded Republic Day visit of US President Barack Obama he pledged $4
billion ($2 billion of which was for renewable energy) for India. It is
touted to be a great step for Indo-US cooperation and engagement (though
Sino-US is trade is five times Indo-US trade, US sees India as having
high potential).
Fourth, Modi wants to make the states as magnets
for investment that is expected over the coming years with renewed
foreign engagement. This way, Modi hopes to channelize foreign
investments that are pledged across different states in India. The
international engagement is increasingly being used for economic
development of states. It is also a radical departure for the states as
being considered partners rather than passive recipients of union
government grants and financial devolution. The focus is on bettering
performance and competition between states within India for taking
advantage of investments from foreign countries/companies.
One
needs to understand the recent geoeconomic and geopolitical engagement
of India within the world order, at the moment not from a normative but a
realistic perspective. Henry Kissinger in his most recent book titled
‘World Order’ mentions ‘four world orders’ dominant in history. These
have appropriately been described as, European, Islamic, Chinese and
American. Can India envision a fifth one?
(The article is
co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior Researcher at the Institute for
Competitiveness, India. The views expressed are personal. is Chair,
Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of Thinkers. He can be
reached at [email protected] and tweets @kautiliya)
