Modi’s India in the Global Pecking Order

Resumo

As it ascends the global pecking order, India collides against other aspirants. This essay evaluates the Narendra Modi government’s performance against the promises contained in the election manifesto of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It assesses the hurdles before India’s ambition and the continuity and change in foreign policy, and argues that success depends more on governance than policy prescriptions. In foreign affairs, Modi has drawn upon India’s counter-narrative to the West-centric view of history, and upon the rich interventions India has offered to the world. The pillars of his foreign policy are ‘soft power’, economic transformation, and strategic capacity-building. Through energetic diplomacy and a willingness to assume greater international responsibility, India is intent on shifting from the role of a ‘balancer’ to ‘leader’. Modi demonstrates continuity in foreign policy objectives: ensuring that the neighbourhood remains peaceful, secure and stable; securing inward foreign investment, and increasing India’s influence. Modi has lent urgency to the pursuit of foreign and security policies as ‘enablers’ in the transformation of India. By getting tied to domestic policy, foreign policy has woven itself into the people’s consciousness. But in an unpredictable international system, can Modi see through his foreign policy initiatives into the end of his term in 2019? The challenge is not merely to augur in ‘smart diplomacy’, but bring all stakeholders into a governance structure for the transformation of India. With the consolidation of national strength, India is at the centre of the international security architecture. If India were to become the world power it aspires to be, Modi needs to seize the moment.