The New Change Agent

The study of Indian foreign policy is going mainstream. As a confident India continues to make its mark on the global order, Indians from all walks of life and of all ages are trying to make sense of this shift. The leaderships of Prime minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has added a dose of chutzpah that the younger generation of Indians in particular are keen to savour. There has been a dedicated attempt to democratise the engagement with foreign policy issues away from the confines of retired bureaucracy and Delhi-based intelligentsia to the aspirational youth in the hinterland.

Foreign policies of mature democracies don’t radically alter their course with every change in government. But a combination of Modi’s leadership style and some fundamental structural transformation in the international system has meant that Indian diplomacy must be nimble and agile to adapt to today’s world. It is this intersection of old and new, of an India trying to map out a new role for itself in a world still defined by old mores and institutional rigidities that Dhruva Jaishankar explores in his very readable Vishwa Shastra: India and the World.

This is not a typical academic tome but an attempt “to channel an inherently Indian perspective on some issues, overturn some conventional wisdom, and contribute to India’s strategic vocabulary.” In so doing, the book effectively melds India’s past and its ongoing struggle to carve its own space in the global order. There is a lot here that will appeal to scholars and policy practitioners but essentially this is a volume that synthesises the growing body of work on India’s external relations and derives some sound policy ideas on issues ranging from internal security, neighbourhood challenges and China to the Middle East and global governance.

There is little to dispute with the key arguments Jaishankar underlines in this volume: that India has had a long history of statecraft and a vibrant strategic culture; that a strong sense of realism has always imbued India’s global engagement; that Indian foreign policy has mostly been an instrument to pursue domestic priorities; and that China is likely to be the most important driver of Indian foreign and security policy. While some of these ideas may have been contested in the past, there is a growing consensus on these today and this book makes a compelling case as to why this should be the case.

Where there seems to be academic contestation is on the sources of change that Indian foreign policy is witnessing since the last decade in particular. There can be no doubt that the trajectory of Indian foreign policy did shift in the last decade. A number of factors played a role—structural changes in the international system, change of government in India and a shift in the centre of gravity of Indian politics to the Right, and a new leadership style under Modi. The debate which might be largely academic at this point but has the potential to shape the policy architecture in the future is which factor has been the determining one in shaping the new strategic vocabulary of New Delhi. This volume doesn’t engage with this question directly, but this is a debate which is not completely devoid of some critical implications for the nation’s future.

The world is evolving and India is changing equally rapidly. The aspirational India of today wants to make a mark as a “leading power” as this book rightly points out. In the age of Donald Trump, critical choices will also have to be made. How will the Atmanirbhar Bharat project confront the challenge of speedy defence modernisation given the growing capability differential in the neighbourhood? How will New Delhi’s desire to enhance connectivity with its neighbours square with the region’s growing economic embrace of China? How can India best manage the challenge of a rising China with the need to leverage China’s economic heft?

This volume doesn’t answer all these questions which will be central to India’s foreign policy landscape but by raising these questions in an accessible manner it will force many in India to confront these issues. For a book, there cannot be a bigger accomplishment.

booksDhruva Jaishankardiplomacyforeign affairsIndian foreign policy