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The Challenges Ahead for India’s Foreign Policy: India and International Security Shivshankar Menon The primary task of our foreign policy is to ensure an external environment that is conducive to India’s transformation and development. To oversimplify, what are the issues and what kind of foreign policy would enable us to eradicate poverty, grow at 8-10% and transform India into a moderately well off state where our people can realize their potential? Looked at in this light, broadly speaking there would be three sets of challenges: Firstly, ensuring a peaceful periphery; secondly, relations with the major powers; and, thirdly, issues of the future namely food security, water, energy and environment.
Indian Foreign Policy Prof. C. Raja Mohan
The political heat and intellectual passion that have marked India’s domestic debate on the civil nuclear initiative with the United States in 2007 has tended to obfuscate both the real sources of change and the enduring features of India’s foreign policy. Underlying the fears, either real or feigned, on the left and right of the Indian political spectrum, and the natural tendency to politicise the developments on the diplomatic front is a profound reluctance to come to terms with the structural changes in the international system and the relative change in India’s power position in the international system. After all the very international community that condemned India’s tests in May 1998, unanimously demanded India to comply with a set of demands in June 1998, is now prepared to exempt New Delhi from the basic norms of the global non-proliferation regime. That this transformation has occurred in less than a decade after the nuclear tests has a lot do with the changed international perceptions of India and where the nation is headed in the international system. India in turn has embarked on a series of adaptations to its foreign policy. This essay is an attempt to put these changes in perspective.
Indian Perceptions on Sri Lanka: Changing Dynamics M. Mayilvaganan
The issue of Tamils of Indian origin and maritime issues has affected bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka. The ethnic riots of 1983 and Sri Lanka’s pro-west policy also contributed to this. However, the IPKF episode and LTTE’s involvement in Rajiv Gandhi assassination brought a perceptible change in the India’s perception on Sri Lanka and the Tamil question. Thereafter bilateral ties have been smooth. In fact, India’s major investment in South Asian region is in Sri Lanka and as such the island nation has emerged as a close economic partner of New Delhi. Both the countries realise that state to state relationships are detrimental to their economic growth and prosperity. There is a greater potential for enhancing and institutionalising bilateral economic cooperation in the future.
India’s Policy Towards Pakistan Abhishek
The Indo-Pak relations were strained for the first fifty two years of independence of both the countries. In 1999 India decided to break the logjam by taking the initiative to start people to people diplomacy. In spite of starting another war by Pakistan in May 1999, the people to people diplomacy paid dividends in terms of normalization of relations between the two countries. However, the developments of the past few months in Pakistan are creating all round uncertainty. Indian policy makers are examining various options available in the event developments there go from bad to worse.
India’s Eastern Neighbours - Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh: The Security and Stability Challenge Padmaja Murthy
India’s polices will have to be based on border management, sharing of intelligence regarding non-state actors, interacting with these countries through the forum of SAARC and BIMSTEC , border areas development ; sub-regional grouping BBIN –GQ earlier proposed in the SAARC Forum needs to be looked at again. India does not intend to interfere in these countries. However, it needs to share its democratic experiences by enabling people to people interaction and making civil society vigilant of their leaders. The manner in which aspirations of marginalised sections can be accommodated and made part of political mainstream needs to be discussed for contributing to greater stability. Only then can the stability –security challenges of India can be effectively met.
Eleventh Round of Border Talks: India-China Border Dispute Srikanth Kondapalli
The search for permanent peace between the two sides continues as both sides prepare for the next rounds of discussions. In the past, the Chinese leaders insisted that the talks on the border should be elevated to the “political levels”, which is what the special representative mechanism came to be. Nevertheless, no progress is visible for the public on the border dispute between the two countries. For the moment such search appears to be elusive and as the two countries rise simultaneously, unresolved issues threaten to disturb the equilibrium.
India’s Tibet Policy Prof. P. Stobdan
Any hope for a free Tibet is increasingly becoming feeble, though Dalai Lama (DL) continues to strive for a “genuine autonomy” within China. Notwithstanding the worldwide support for the Tibetan spiritual leader, nothing tangibly has moved ahead in the last almost five decades, and there is little hope that things will take a different turn in the near future. In fact, the celebrity status and the popularity of the 14th DL have made the Tibet issue more and more apolitical. The attraction for Tibetan Buddhism has dissipated further the political drive needed to liberate Tibet.
India - ASEAN Relations: Search for Opportunities in a Shifting Regional Scenario Shankari Sundararaman
India’s interaction with Southeast Asia has been of significant interest in the last decade or more. As one looks at the rapid changes shaping Southeast Asia and the larger context of East Asia, it becomes increasingly evident that India’s relations with Southeast Asia is not merely confined to this region, but has, in fact pushed India’s integration into East Asia itself. As Southeast Asia redefines its linkages with East Asia, India too will have to redefine and reconstitute its approach to the region as a whole. Scholars are of the opinion that the theme of shared perspectives between India and ASEAN is a well emphasised fact especially when one takes into consideration the historical, geographic, and economic ties that exist between the two regions. A further testament lies in the fact that the regions are also bound together by linkages of art and architecture, culture, linguistic similarities and a common traditional heritage. While these factors remain as significant commonalities they alone are not sufficient rationale for the development of ties with the region. In fact when one looks at the different periods in India’s relations with ASEAN, three dominant phases come to light. Despite the historical linkages these phases have been diverse and have been offset by other factors that have driven these two regions together. The first two phases have been influenced significantly by the external setting. In comparison the present phase looks at the manner in which the ‘Look East Policy’, has evolved and restructured itself on the basis of the economic and security dimensions that link India and Southeast Asia together.
India and Israel Relations: Crossing the Rubicon Priya Ranjan Kumar Several factors contributed to India’s pragmatic shift in foreign policy. Iincreasing fundamentalism and economic crisis led India in the early 1990s to follow the “Look Asia policy” towards West and East Asia and reform its economic policy. Internationally the collapse of the Soviet Union, which led to the emergence of the United States as the sole world power were the most prominent factors. Regionally the nuclear and technological race with China and Pakistan pushed India closer to the US, Israel and Japan. The India-Pakistan conflict was another regional factor. Reluctant Arab support for India in its quarrel with Pakistan in 1965, 1971 and 1999 reinforced the feeling that India was not pursuing a quid pro quo policy in West Asia. India and Israel both are democratic, pluralistic states with large domestic Muslim minorities and both face the scourge of terrorism, sponsored by their neighbors, and have structural similarities in the kind of threat perception from terrorism. Despite a significant convergence of interests between India and Israel on the several issues, there remain a number of constraints within which the two states will have to improve their bilateral relations. India will have to balance its growing relationship with Israel without sacrificing its core interest in West Asia. India needs Israel as a political and military partner but without being pushed into any confrontation with the Islamic world.
India-Japan Bilateral Relations: Matured and Realistic Dr. H. S. Prabhakar
India’s relations with Japan are free of any kind of ideological, cultural or territorial dispute. It is one of warmth emanating from generous gestures and sentiments, of standing by each other at times of need. Japanese state and society have accommodated Buddhism that gradually impacted Japanese culture and thought. Direct exchanges between India and Japan in the modern period, however, began only in the Meiji era (1868-1912), when Japan embarked on the process of modernisation. Japan’s emergence as an international power, was interpreted by India as the beginning of Asian resurgence. Japanese support and assistance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA) shaped popular thinking about Japan. The immediate post independence experience was no less positive, with the Tokyo tribunal, waiving of reparations, signing of a separate Peace Treaty, the Asian Games and extension of Yen loans. This spirit was visible in 1991 too when Japan supported with $ 500 million to tide over India’s balance of payments crisis. Indian perception was a strong admiration for Japan’s post-war economic reconstruction and subsequent rapid growth as an industrial and technology-giant. The role of Maruti-Suzuki joint venture has revolutionised industrial culture, technology and management concepts in the pre-economic reform India. Japan consistently ranked as the most admired nation in India, media and society for a number of years and India figures in Japanese business estimate as a favorable destination for Japanese future investment and hub of manufacturing. India’s declaration of mourning at the time of demise of the Showa Emperor was appreciated widely. Japanese businessmen from steel, textiles or trading sectors are appreciative of their Indian connections during the reconstruction period.
India’s Policy towards Central Asia Dr. Nirmala Joshi
Though India does not share a boundary with any of the Central Asian States, its geographical proximity makes the region to be considered as part of India’s extended neighbourhood. Due to its strategic proximity to the Middle East and South Asia, Central Asia has emerged as a distinct geopolitical entity stimulating global attention and interest. The region has vast untapped potential of oil, gas and strategic minerals. Engagement of the Central Asian Republics is thus an essential component of our security.1 Thus commonality of interests in building democratic, modern and secular Central Asia or combating the destabilising forces such as extremism and terrorism gave contemporary focus to India’s past historical and cultural links with Central Asia. With fifteen years down the line, Indian Policy is more reactive than active in the region. In order to examine Indian policy it is essential to understand the defining features of Central Asia.
Indian Perceptions on Persian Gulf Prof. A.K. Pasha
India after having consolidated its ties with the ASEAN countries is gradually focusing on the GCC states. The key factor driving its policy is India’s quest for energy security. Despite India’s global search for oil and gas resources, the focus remains on the Gulf region to ensure adequate supplies to sustain its high economic growth. The GCC region has also become an important foreign exchange earning zone from the standpoint of growing trade, workers remittances, and investment opportunities and tourism. One can notice numerous steps being taken by both India and GCC to strengthen bilateral ties in all of these areas.
India’s Relations with EU Shakti Prasad Srichandan
Both EU and India regard each other as natural partners. The EU’s expansion with further economic integration and India’s emergence as a global economic heavyweight have created space for mutually beneficial partnership. The elevation of the bilateral relationship to Strategic Partnership has opened new vistas of opportunities. Both agree that, deepening of bilateral relationship between the two biggest democracies should support rather than undermine international multilateral regime. The EU is India’s largest trading partner, but the current levels are below potential. So, diversifying and harnessing the potential areas of cooperation will make the EU-India relation, Strategic in truest sense. Relation between EU and India is now being held as significant factor in shaping EU’s plan to engage with Asia.
Sixty Years of Indo-Russian Synergy Prof. P. L. Dash A cursory look at the tumultuous phase of Indo-Russian relations following the collapse of the Soviet Union compares well with the contrasting, but suave phase of preceding Soviet years. Through ups and downs of events, when Brezhnev’s USSR stood stoic behind all that Indira Gandhi pursued as India’s policy postulates, it was nothing but the closest possible rapprochement on issues of international conduct. Then came the years, when Indo-Russian relations weathered the raging storm of Soviet Perestroika. The Rajiv-Gorbachev agreements to have a nuclear free world were one of the memorable milestones of bilateral ties in those years. The inosculate phase was still strong. However, as the Soviet Union pushed itself to the whirlwind of changes, the society veered toward eschewing socialism. The progress was too swift for Gorbachev to stop it. As he admitted, the “path had been ushered in” as if awaiting the finale of a precipitating Soviet collapse in December, 1991. The following year, 1992, dismantled and reversed everything that was Soviet for seventy plus years. The Indo-Russian relations in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet collapse were an unintentional victim of an intemperate leadership that pursued a course of path reversal. Excessively West-centric and unwilling to assess the Eurasian character of the vast landmass that Russia occupies across eleven time zones, Yeltsin and his cronies neglected India for just over a year from December,1991 to January,1992. This was the period when Indo-Russian bilateralism passed through the litmus test of transition. But the ties survived. From the profligate state of subdued inactiveness, it bounced back in a few years to a partnership that is poised to take new wings into the future. It is through the post-Soviet years of one and half decades that both countries have played onto the perimeters of a partnership laden with contretemps and challenges of a globalising world. As both countries celebrated 60th year of establishment of their diplomatic relations, a close but brief scrutiny of what happened over these years seems worthwhile. The Cold war is passé. The Soviet Union is no more, but the legacy continues. What was once a bilateral relationship is apparently making accommodative gestures at trilateral, triangular, angular and multilateral ties. In the process it has separated the best from the banal, and the rest is yet to follow.
India and Africa: Towards an Enduring Partnership Ruchita Beri
Africa today is the centre of global attention with the major powers trying to establish their presence in the continent. This has been possible due to certain positive developments in the continent that detract the pessimistic outlook of the continent ridden with poverty, disease and conflict. India and Africa have a relationship that can be traced back to the ancient times. Although India’s engagement with Africa is quite low in compared to others in quantitative terms, it has scored better in terms of its image and goodwill through its capacity building programmes which focus on development of indigenous human resources and institutions on the African continent.
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