Miscellaneous
Underpinning regional security
With India’s foreign policy currently undergoing a big shift from Nehruvian idealism that for decades underpinned its worldview, Harsh V Pant’s new book, Indian Foreign Policy: An Overview, is a very-well timed book.With India’s foreign policy currently undergoing a big shift from Nehruvian idealism that for decades underpinned its worldview, Harsh V Pant’s new book, Indian Foreign Policy: An Overview, is a very-well timed book. With India now uniquely placed as a formidable global player—with its increasing political, economic and military clout—the book does well to delve into how with its evolution at the world stage, the way the South Asian powerhouse expresses itself has evolved as well.
Pant makes balanced observations on the reasons that make India a balancing power, not only in South Asia but in the Asia-Pacific region as well. Being the world’s largest democracy, it’s naturally an ally of the West. The author aptly highlights the point that India’s edge the west West continues despite its contesting positioning on issues such as non-proliferation, partiality in global trade regime and besieged multilateralism. Thus, it is intriguing, even if today India remains unsure of its role in the world, despite its capabilities.
The book presents an impressive overview of the current Indian foreign policy, bringing into light the factors shaping policy. While on domestic politics, India’s relations with the world are dealt with in precision and details; it retains the same vigour in regards to its neighbourhood policy, barring Nepal. Since May 2014, India’s relation with Nepal has been on roller-coaster and not all of the essence comes into discussion with the book as it overlooks crucial factors.
Looking at today’s Nepal, it becomes essential to spend a greater deal of attention on the evolving democracy here and its discomfort with the two giant neighbours that flank it. Under influence of geo-politics, Nepal often falls short of standing on its own when it comes to shaping its foreign policy. Overall, Pant’s academic treatment of issues like the new Constitution, Madhesi agitation and the blockade is helpful for the readers in academia and policy think tanks. Particularly in instances where he calls Nepal ‘a yam between two rocks’, with observation like this:
“Nepal’s strategic importance has led Beijing to focus its policies on preserving and enhancing the Himalayan state’s independence and neutrality by trying to reduce its dependence on India in the political, economic and security arenas. China’s policy options, however, have been severely circumscribed by the special security relationship between India and Nepal formalised in the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty between the two.”
The book delves into crucial global issues, such as India’s role in international and regional organisations, nuclear proliferation, changing nature of democracy and climate change. The book also is peppered with “snapshots” where important issues such as SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) grouping and terrorism, among others, are discussed.
As part of the same series of Orient Blackswan, Harsh V Pant’s another book (ed), Afghanistan’s Regional Dilemmas, is a remarkable piece of work that comprehensively examines the impact of Western withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the interests and policies of major regional players, including India and Pakistan.
This is another timely book, as the global powers are struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of the withdrawal of NATO-led Western military forces from Afghanistan. It rightly declares “regional cooperation” as the only viable alternative to the tensions that have plagued Afghanistan for decades.
The final volume of this series, edited by Chris Ogden, New South Asian Security, recasts the interpretation of security and international relations in South Asia. Moving away from the traditional emphasis on India–Pakistan relations, this volume focuses on the region’s unique confluence of two of the international system’s rising great powers—China and India; and two of its failing and most unstable states—Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Coming to terms with the existing geo-strategic scenario, it also acknowledges that South Asian security rests upon the interaction between these four important states. The volume also highlights the region’s present status as the fulcrum of contemporary dynamics of international relations and global trends (from rising powers and an Asian Century, to international terrorism, nuclear proliferation and energy security threats). These factors make South Asian security significant to the world, and highlight its relevance to the nature (and future) of the international system.
Harsh V Pant with his solo book and as Group Editor of these two other books has supplemented informed output on South Asia’s foreign policies and strategic affairs. At a time when ‘national populists’ are ruling nations and their discourses, it becomes even more imperative that public intellectuals cast their views vocally.
At the cusp of big universal changes, this is the time to recall the first principle of Hans Morgenthau’s Realist Theory of International Politics, which holds that politics is governed by some objective laws which have their roots in human nature. With no options left, we must learn more about the ‘humans’ who rule us and of their ‘nature’.
Thakur is a New Delhi based journalist and writer; he can be reached at [email protected]