Foreign Policy in India

Introduction

The year 1946 marked the beginning of India’s current political system and marks, as well, the beginning of this discussion.  Known as the Freedom Movement, India’s long-fought road to independence from Great Britain resulted in the beginnings of a political foundation of positive relations “with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of Non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations” (Embassy of India).  Throughout the years since, India has maintained its position of non-alignment, preserving its position of neutrality free from association with the political ideologies and objectives taken by other states and the foreign policies of other nations. A founding member of the United Nations, India’s continued advocacy on general disarmament, with a specific focus on nuclear disarmament, furthered India’s efforts for peace, as have their notable efforts of intervention for the liberation and justice of struggling countries facing similar beginnings toward independence as India faced a mere 60 years ago. With all their achievements in, arguably, a rather short span of time, we live in a changing world and India’s foreign policy has to adapt to meet the demands of those changes.  This discussion highlights the plight of India’s struggles in establishing and developing its foreign policy, promoting its policy of peace and benefit, while ensuring its ability to grow and compete in a dynamic world.

Establishing India’s Foreign Policy 

After such struggles to win their independence from Great Britain, India’s policy toward foreign affairs was, understandably, idealistic.  The notion that all countries should live harmoniously and assist when and where needed provided an admiral and humble beginning for this massive new nation.  However, as the world witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and China’s rise to a status of great power, India’s foreign policy, by necessity, required modifications to ensure Indian citizens the ability to compete in a shrinking world.  As the political powers recognized that their foreign policy goals of good and public service were leaving India behind economically, Indian leaders began to rethink their positions in order to ensure practical means for India to achieve the power and prosperity necessary to maintain their ability to have effect on their developing world (Mohan).

India’s Modified Foreign Policy

As India took the steps to global competition, expansion efforts of their relations with the primary powers, specifically the United States, became the principal national strategic objective. A weakened Russia remained a strategic contact for arms as India grew into the recognition of its need for nuclear arms, in direct contradiction to its stated beginnings. Nonetheless, by the late 1990s, India had modified its stance on nuclear weapons, itself becoming a declared nuclear weapon power, and by 2005 had used its foreign policy talents to favor India in revising the international guidelines for nuclear cooperation through the Bush Administration (Kapila).

Following that marked achievement, the rest of the world began to recognize India as an emerging power. Within the United States alone, India-watchers have noted their large and increasing economy, their huge population with growing abilities and technologies, and its nuclear weapons abilities as a lead-in to India’s coming potential for greatness. Most concerning given its advances, however, continues to be the poor infrastructure and whether this weakness will allow India to compete equally with an ever-growing China and the rest of the world powers (Miller). 

Ultimately, the modern India is faced with two seemingly opposing goals in their foreign policy.  The first is the belief that peace can be maintained by threat; by building military might and acquiring nuclear powers providing its leaders the standing to influence worldwide policy and decisions.  The second is the belief that India’s policy of good and community service can only be preserved by peace, that harmonious relations can only be achieved and maintained by policies of justice and independence (Pandit).  On its face, it would seem logical that the first premise is a means to ensure the success of the second; that only when India has the power to harm another will the other take note and negotiate for peace. Interestingly, though, such a solution has brought India back around to the starting point of its humble beginnings; that control through force or threat is not free-will harmony and, therefore, is not harmony.  Rather, such measures are merely a means for controlling another state – no different than Great Britain’s control over India 60 years ago.

Recognizing that aggressive policies backed by authority of power has a disadvantage of not fitting into India’s prescribed foreign policy ideals, the aggression reserves a right to judgment based on each issue for which such aggressions provide answers. As India grows to compete with the rest of the world, and specifically with China, its survival and future opportunities depend fundamentally on India’s ability to forge relations on equal footing with the powers which share their capabilities but not necessarily India’s policies.  India’s leaders seemingly regrettably modified their foreign policies in order to become and remain competitive. While their lofty goals may have been motivation for such changes, India realizes the impacts upon the world from those changes and, within India, foreign policy leaders tend to avoid talk of the country’s rising status as a world power while ensuring their changing policy continues to place them in a position to take advantage of it. “There is a hysterical sense, encouraged by the West, about India’s rise.” A top-level official in India’s foreign ministry echoed the sentiment: “When do we Indians talk about it? We don’t” (Miller).

The improvements in India’s relations with China just since the 1990s has been one of the biggest accomplishments of India’s new foreign policy. Their relations with China have become more of a strategic partnership for peace and development, with the expectation that China will emerge as India’s single largest trading partner. Relations with Japan had deteriorated during the Cold War but have since become more positive through political cooperation between the two powers and, in 2005, the countries actually proclaimed a strategic partnership.  In essence, the new foreign policy which India is continuing to develop places more emphasis on economics in the making of foreign policy. With noted lagging by India compared to the rest of Asia, the pressures to compete with other emerging and established economies forced India into new, updated ideologies (Mohan).  Beginning with the unprecedented fiscal crisis India experienced as a result of the first Gulf War of 1991, oil prices had spiked forcing India to purchase significant supplies of petroleum, resulting on a temporary but significant foreign drain on its treasury. Following that, India’s government was forced to repatriate over one hundred thousand workers fleeing Kuwait.  Such massive influx with no preparation for accommodation resulted in a further drain on India’s financial safety net, as those returning Indian citizens required an immediate, massive outlay of social services. Finally, India’s economy suffered an additional hit because those workers fleeing Kuwait not only created a financial drain on India’s social system but also resulted in the loss of tax revenue those workers contributed to India’s treasury.  The perfect storm of these financial hits placed India in dire financial straits, ultimately forcing its leaders to recognize the importance of modifying their foreign affairs policies to include economic considerations and modified economic policies which ultimately included ignoring their commitment to import-substituting industrialization and revisiting and revising their stifling regulations, licenses, permits and quotas which had largely retarded their economic growth (Ganguly).

India’s Future Policies on Foreign Affairs

India’s long road from its humble beginnings as a territory of Great Britain to its status today as an emerging power has included the recognition of the importance of consideration and negotiation to its neighbors.  It has also included the recognition that, in order to continue considerations and negotiations on a relatively effective note, its economy must be competitive with those of other nations.  The merging of foreign policy on domestic economic policy has become a reality in today’s world, as technological advances and access to labor to meet those technological advances become the indication of future success and prosperity.  India’s notable accomplishments, however, still have room for improvements.  In the twenty-year span from 1992 to 2012, the living standards of Indian citizens witnessed a marked improvement.  However, compared to other countries in which citizens realized improved living standards measured strictly by purchasing power, India actually lagged behind many of the other fledgling nations.  Expert predictions are that India’s economy will continue to improve, resulting in their outperforming other similar nations, but that their modifications of foreign policy and the trickle down effects to their economic policies will require continued changes in order to propel it to the power status which it has the ability to accomplish.  Specifically, foreign policy on trade restrictions are expected to open up, and the resulting boon to India’s economy is anticipated to supercharge its continued growth (Altman).

Conclusion.

India’s biggest challenge in establishing its foreign policy over the past sixty years has primarily been the wedding of its principles on harmonious idealism to the reality of growth, strength, and economic equality which can, practically speaking, only be attained by aggressive negotiations with other nations able to trade on relatively equal footing.  The trick for ensuring its future success is to maintain coherence and balance in its foreign policy.  Protecting the country’s interests, whether those interests be sovereignty or economic growth, the premises for the successes of either interest are inherently intertwined with the other.  Successful application of both principles lies in the thoughtful implementation of each (R. C. Mohan). As the world changes and the driving forces behind those changes impact every nation, judgments must be made which address not only the changes from past policies but also the anticipated changes for its future and continued success and growth (Sibal).  Nations do not always act in a manner which promotes their own national interest. It is against national interest, for example, to maintain poor relations with neighboring countries or to allow its own citizens to exist in third-world conditions, or to invoke influence through perceived superior power or threat of nuclear annihilation. 

Enlightenment, which seems to be the premise of India’s beginning and subsequent growth, is undermined by tensions and conflict.  Yet, the key to India’s future success and continued rise will rest on its ability to exert tensions and conflict.  Moves which limit India’s foreign policy options will ultimately serve to also reduce its security alternatives, particularly with consideration toward its nuclear advancements, potentially resulting in India’s subservient foreign policy when dealing with the United States and other NATO actors (Gupta).

Works Cited

Altman, Daniel. "8 Myths About India's Growth." 29 April 2013. ForeignPolicy.com. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/29/8_myths_about_indian_growth. 

Embassy of India. India's Foreign Policy - 50 Years of Achievement. n.d. https://www.indianembassy.org/policy/Foreign_Policy/fp(intro).htm. 

Ganguly, Sumit. India's Foreign Policy: Retrospect and Prospect. Oxford University Press, 2012. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CFAQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ufmg.br%2Fcei%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fdownload-monitor%2Fdownload.php%3Fid%3D6&ei=kACRUfCEBKP50gG11YDYAg&usg=AFQjCNFjNfWft5GiqUdkS9lO8j821uggT.

Gupta, Amit. Challenge and Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign Policy. Book Review. New Delhi: Sage, 2009. http://www.ipcs.org/books-review/india-the-world/challenge-and-strategy-rethinking-indias-foreign-policy-252.html.

Kapila, Dr. Subhash. "India's New Government and its Foreign Policy Options: An Analysis." 2004. http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper1049.

Miller, Manjari Chatterjee. "India's Feeble Foreign Policy; A Would-Be Great Power Resists Its Own Rise." May/June 2013. Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139098/manjari-chatterjee-miller/indias-feeble-foreign-policy.

Mohan, C. Raja. India’s New Foreign Policy Strategy. Seminar in Beijing by China Reform Forum and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Beijing, 2006 . http://carnegieendowment.org/files/Mohan.pdf.

Mohan, Raja C. "India's Strategic Future." 4 November 2010. ForeignPolicy.com. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/04/indias_strategic_future.

Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi. "India's Foreign Policy." April 1956. Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/71253/vijaya-lakshmi-pandit/indias-foreign-policy.

Sibal, Amb. Kanwal. "India’s Foreign Policy – Future Options." 30 November 2012. Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis. http://www.idsa.in/keyspeeches/IndiasForeignPolicyFutureOptions.