India as an Emerging Power
Strategic Challenges
Dr M Matheswaran
DRAFT OF PAPER TO BE
PRESENTED AT FLASCO-‐ISA
CONFERENCE 23 JULY 2014, BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (NOT FOR
CITATION)
This
paper will examine India’s central strategic problem, which is the challenge of
devising ways of dealing on the one hand with countering China’s strategy of
marginalising India through the development of strong ties with all of India’s
neighbours, particularly Pakistan and on the other of cooperating with China
and Russia in finding ways to
adapt to
a Western-‐dominated
international system as well as strengthening cooperation with the
United States and Japan.
India as an Emerging Power: Strategic Challenges
Introduction
The recently concluded electoral exercise (General Elections 2014) in
India is a watershed event in the history of India and the world. The largest
such democratic exercise held in human history, it showcased the entrenched
strength of the democratic process in India. The elections, by itself, achieved
many firsts. For the first time the middle class and the large segment of youth
population (many of whom were first time voters) mobilised in a way never seen
before. It was also the first time that one of the major parties (the BJP) announced its prime ministerial
candidate well ahead which set the tone for its electoral campaign on issues of
development and governance. The near flawless conduct of the elections is a signal
demonstration of the power of democracy in India, and that is clearly the
demonstration of the inherent strength of India as an emerging power. The
results were phenomenal – a single party majority after three decades – an outcome of the focus on important and
pressing issues rather than the usual populism. This itself was a clear
indication that the large young population will support the national leadership
to take a proactive, firm and nationalist approach to governing India.
Accordingly, one can expect a significant shift in India’s approach to
international relations, in favour of unambiguously articulated national
interests, over the coming years. The swearing in of the new government was
used as the forum to send such appropriate signals to the rest of the world.
Inviting the heads of state of the SAARC countries was a masterstroke of
strategy.
India’s
Strategic legacy
For nearly fifty years since its independence in 1947 India’s national
strategy and international relations were guided and driven by one person,
Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister. Clearly articulating the need
for
India to follow
an independent, and a narrow path of not joining any block, Nehru laid emphasis
on the importance of following a path different from the conventional and
accepted strategies of power politics.1 It
was the beginning of what subsequently became the Non-‐Aligned Movement (NAM). As a
keen student of history, Nehru had
implicit faith in the belief that India was destined to fulfil its role as a front ranking
power in the international system.2 The
need to pursue an independent strategy and foreign policy emerged from this fundamental desire and envisaged role
for India. While Nehru fully acknowledged that this would be possible only when
the country was economically strong, the means to achieve that evolved
differently. India’s history and its strategic legacies had much to do with how
Nehru evolved independent India’s national strategy in dealing with a world
that was crafted and controlled entirely by the Western powers. Read More >>>>>>
