Living with Multipolarity

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India is not alone in choosing self-reliance in a post-globalised world
Living with Multipolarity
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Kautilya Economic Conclave, New Delhi, October 3, 2025 (Photo: Ashish Sharma) 

 LARRY KRAMER, VICE CHANCELLOR of the London School of Economics, had an interesting anecdote to share at the recently held Kautilya Economic Conclave (October 3-5) in New Delhi. On his trip to India, he watched an “old high school romance” movie. “Life in the end is like a romance movie or, at least, a comedy,” he said.

The contemporary world, Kramer said, resembles a movie of this sort. “The US looks like a dumbo; Russia is like a kid who goes about troubling everyone, and India is like a kid that stays out of the big fights and everyone claps in the end,” he said.