Theorizing India’s Foreign Relations

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddharth Mallavarapu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
First Generation ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
The World ◽  
Indian Foreign Policy

The objective of this chapter is to attempt a best case argument for Indian theorizing on Indian foreign policy. This chapter explores early writings on Indian foreign policy and their theoretical underpinnings. While not consciously invoking the conventional registers of mainstream IR theorizing, some key figures in the first generation of disciplinary international studies in India sought to approach the world on their own terms. In this chapter the author grapples with what might be gained from engaging these early accounts. While the general lament remains that generically foreign policy has been under-theorized, the author points to research directions that might nudge future scholars in the field to pay greater heed to context and local accents, introduce a stronger comparative dimension, and systematically pursue theoretical openings made possible by a closer reading of the first generation of Indian international relations writings on foreign policy.

India and the World

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Malone ◽  
C. Raja Mohan ◽  
Srinath Raghavan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Affairs ◽  
Indian Foreign Policy ◽  
Over Time

India has emerged as a leading voice in global affairs in the past two decades. Its fast-growing domestic market largely explains the ardour with which Delhi is courted by powers great and small. India is also becoming increasingly important to global geostrategic calculations, being the only Asian country with the heft to counterbalance China over time. Nevertheless, India’s foreign policy has been relatively neglected in the existing literature. ThisHandbook, edited by three widely recognized students of the topic, provides an extensive survey of India’s external relations. The authors include leading Indian scholars and commentators of the field and several outstanding foreign scholars and practitioners. They address factors in Indian foreign policy flowing from both history and geography and also discuss key relationships, issues, and multilateral forums through which the country’s international relations are refracted.

Modi and the Reinvention of Indian Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Hall
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
National Security ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Security Vulnerabilities ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Diplomacy ◽  
Indian Foreign Policy ◽  
The Impact

Narendra Modi’s energetic personal diplomacy and promise to make India a ‘leading power’, made soon after his landslide election victory in May 2014, surprised many analysts. Most had predicted that his government would concentrate on domestic issues, on the growth and development demanded by Indian voters, and that he lacked necessary experience in international relations. Instead, Modi’s time in office saw a concerted attempt to reinvent Indian foreign policy by replacing inherited understandings of its place in the world with one drawn largely from Hindu nationalist ideology. This book explores the drivers of this reinvention, arguing it arose from a combination of elite conviction and electoral calculation, and the impact it had on India’s international relations under Modi. It examines how Hindu nationalists understand the world and India’s place and role within it, as well as what we know about Modi’s thought and political style. It addresses, in turn, his government’s attempt to present India as a ‘world guru’ with teachings draw from its rich civilizational inheritance, its attempt to further regional prosperity and connectivity in South Asia, and its efforts to address national security vulnerabilities and manage relations with the major powers.

Diplomacy in Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Weisbrode
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Broad Definition ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of

Diplomacy’s role in foreign policy is hampered by multiple understandings of what diplomacy is and does. A broad definition of diplomacy holds that it encompasses more than the promotion of peaceful international relations. Instead, it applies to the sum of those relations—peaceful, hostile, and everything in between. Thus, foreign relations—so long as they involve the interests, direction, and actions of a sovereign power—may be regarded as being synonymous with diplomatic relations, whereby foreign policy relates to the theory and practice of setting diplomatic priorities; planning for contingencies; advancing strategic, operational, and tactical diplomatic aims; and adjusting those aims to domestic and foreign constraints. This conception of diplomacy is functional: it emphasizes the roles of diplomats and recognizes that many other people perform these roles besides official envoys; and it illustrates that diplomatic settings—and the means, methods, and tools of diplomacy—undergo continuous change. The basic mediating purpose of diplomacy, however, has endured, as has much of its institutional apparatus—embassies, ambassadors, treaties, and so on. This is likely to remain the case so long as there are multiple polities in the world, all having to relate to one another.

India’s Rise

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunil Khilnani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The Self ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Developmental Needs ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
The World ◽  
Advantageous Position

How should India’s rise be understood in the framework of international relations and a changing global order? This chapter assesses India’s jostle for an advantageous position on the world stage through three sets of lenses: the attempt to voice the civilizational values of a nascent nation; the expressions of the economic and developmental needs of a poor citizenry; and the self-professed aims and pursuits of the interests of a sovereign state. It then outlines some of the challenges in defining India’s international position, and explores possible means through which these can be navigated. In order to optimize the rewards of India’s interactions with the global order, deft management of all three approaches is necessary, enabled by a recognition of the fact that its greatest strength lies in the ability to articulate a democratically validated foreign policy.

Before Midnight

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru

This chapter examines ideas about war, peace, and international relations over the century preceding independence, of which there were many more and in greater depth than widely supposed. It outlines how and why Indians first began to articulate views on the subject, and subsequently analyses these ideas. It proposes that, contrary to the opinion of some scholars, Indians thought carefully about the nature of international relations. Most importantly, it emphasizes the plurality of views on the subject, and explains how and why proponents of pragmatism in foreign relations came to be sidelined in the period immediately preceding independence. Several of the personalities developing notions of what a foreign policy for India should involve as of the early twentieth century, including India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, became important actors in formulating and implementing foreign policy post-independence.

scholarly journals Foreign Policy of Hungary Towards Ukraine or “European Menu à la Carte”

2018 ◽  
pp. 603-612
Author(s):  
Serhii Esaulov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
The World ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Right ◽  
Expert Community

The author raises the issue of settling conflicts around the world and discusses modern attempts to establish law and order. Particular attention is paid to the intricate relations between Hungary and Ukraine. With Russia’s aggression against Ukraine there was ruined a system of international relations, which provided for the rule of law, the right to settle disputes without applying military tools, force or threats. Russia initiated a new precedent of impunity, insolent violation of the fundamental norms of international law, and demonstrated the world how the borders may be redrawn as one sees fit and “bring historical justice”. The author notes that one of the reasons for the escalation of the conflict between Hungary and Ukraine has become the language issue. Still, however pity it is, all attempts of the Ukrainian side to resolve conflict matters have appeared to be vane, since Budapest is reluctant to listen to and consider any arguments of Kyiv, being fully distracted by its demand. It is hard to imagine that in civilized “old” Europe, Germany, for instance, would express claims or even threaten France for the fact that pupils in schools of the French region of Alsace (until 1918, its territory formed part of Germany that attempted to annex it at times of the Second World War) are taught in the official language – French, not in the language of the neighbouring country, even though the Alsatian and German languages are equally spoken there. Unfortunately, Hungary seems not to be ready to follow the example of the Franco-German reconciliation in terms of relations with all neighbours, despite the philosophy of its membership in the EU and NATO. The revenge-seeking attitudes of the Hungarian political establishment regarding the revision of borders according to the Versailles and Yalta systems of international relations are constantly boosted in all directions in the neighbouring countries, where ethnic Hungarians live (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine). The so-called “formula of protecting interests of Russian citizens in Crimea and Donbas” adopted from Putin has apparently laid the foundation for the foreign policy strategy of V. Orban. First, as regards the appeal to make the region of ethnic Hungarians’ residence autonomous and subsequently – the appeal to hold a referendum on separation. The author summarizes that along with the political and diplomatic efforts, a substantial role in easing the tension in relations with Budapest should be played by non-governmental organizations and the expert community though holding forums and scientific conferences aiming at discussing the above-mentioned issues. Keywords: Hungary, conflict, Law on Language, geopolitics, strategies, foreign policy, Ukraine.

IR, imperialism, and the Global South: From Libya to Venezuela

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110612
Author(s):  
Matteo Capasso
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Global South ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Growing Body

This article brings together two cases to contribute to the growing body of literature rethinking the study of international relations (IR) and the Global South: The Libyan Arab al-Jamāhīrīyah and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Drawing on media representations and secondary literature from IR and international political economy (IPE), it critically examines three main conceptual theses (authoritarian, rentier, and rogue) used to describe the historical socio-political formations of these states up to this date. Mixing oil abundance with authoritarian revolutionary fervour and foreign policy adventurism, Libya and Venezuela have been progressively reduced to the figure of one man, while presenting their current crises as localized processes delinked from the imperialist inter-state system. The article argues that these analyses, if left unquestioned, perpetuate a US-led imperial ordering of the world, while foreclosing and discrediting alternatives to capitalist development emerging from and grounded in a Global South context. In doing so, the article contributes to the growing and controversial debate on the meanings and needs for decolonizing the study of IR.

South African Foreign Policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Nganje ◽  
Odilile Ayodele
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Conception ◽  
The Government

In its foreign policy posture and ambitions, post-apartheid South Africa is like no other country on the continent, having earned the reputation of punching above its weight. Upon rejoining the international community in the mid-1990s based on a new democratic and African identity, it laid out and invested considerable material and intellectual resources in pursuing a vision of the world that was consistent with the ideals and aspirations of the indigenous anti-apartheid movement. This translated into a commitment to foreground the ideals of human rights, democratic governance, and socioeconomic justice in its foreign relations, which had been reoriented away from their Western focus during the apartheid period, to give expression to post-apartheid South Africa’s new role conception as a champion of the marginalized interests for Africa and rest of the Global South. Since the start of the 21st century, this new foreign policy orientation and its underlying principles have passed through various gradations, reflecting not only the personal idiosyncrasies of successive presidents but also changes in the domestic environment as well as lessons learned by the new crop of leaders in Pretoria, as they sought to navigate a complex and fluid continental and global environment. From a rather naive attempt to domesticate international politics by projecting its constitutional values onto the world stage during the presidency of Nelson Mandela, South Africa would be socialized into, and embrace gradually, the logic of realpolitik, even as it continued to espouse an ethical foreign policy, much to the chagrin of the detractors of the government of the African National Congress within and outside the country. With the fading away of the global liberal democratic consensus into which post-apartheid South Africa was born, coupled with a crumbling of the material and moral base that had at some point inspired a sense of South African exceptionalism, Pretoria’s irreversible march into an unashamedly pragmatic and interest-driven foreign policy posture is near complete.

2. The European Union as a Subsystem of International Relations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Duke ◽  
Sophie Vanhoonacker
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
International Identity ◽  
Theoretical Pluralism ◽  
Collective Actor

This chapter focuses on the European Union as a subsystem of international relations. It examines the following questions, taking into account the historical context in which EU foreign policy has developed as well as the theoretical pluralism that has characterized its study. First, how has the EU dealt with its own international relations internally? Second, what are the ideas and principles underlying EU foreign policy? Third, what is the EU's collective action capacity in relation to the rest of the world? The chapter illustrates interstate dynamics as a result of European integration by focusing on the cases of France, Germany, and Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). It also considers the EU's international identity and its role as a collective actor.

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