UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : Rising power, rising responsibilities
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: Indian Express
Prelims: Current events of international importance, multilateralism, NAM, RCEP, initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) etc.
Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• Deep structural changes are unfolding in the international system that demand major adjustments in India’s worldview and adaptations to its domestic policies
• The External Affairs Minister said that India can play a “stabilizing” and “bridging” role, at a time when the world no longer offers an “optimistic picture”.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Multilateralism:
• It refers to a set of governing arrangements of fundamental rules, principles, and institutions among nations.
• The United Nations (UN) is an example of a multilateral international institution which aims at making a sustainable and inclusive multilateral global order.
Role of multilateral global order:
Geopolitical imperatives for India:
• The return of great-power rivalry that demands an approach driven by interest rather than ideology.
• The renewed conflict between the West on the one hand and China and Russia on the other has begun to produce a very different set of external conditions for the conduct of India’s international relations than the one it had to deal with in 1991.
• The changing structure of the global economy demands more reform at home. The Indian government has broken away from the faith in economic globalization since it walked out of the Asia-wide free trade negotiations (RCEP) in 2019. The reduced dependence of western economies on China have opened new opportunities for India to enhance its geoeconomic position.
• The Indian government has broken away from the faith in economic globalization since it walked out of the Asia-wide free trade negotiations (RCEP) in 2019.
• The reduced dependence of western economies on China have opened new opportunities for India to enhance its geoeconomic position.
• The unfolding technological revolution promises to redistribute global power and is now an integral part of great-power competition. This has opened the door for accelerated advanced technological development in India. The initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) with the US.
• This has opened the door for accelerated advanced technological development in India.
• The initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) with the US.
• India will need a modernisation of the advanced S&T sector that has been under the domination of state monopolies.
• India must adapt to the rise of new regions that break down old regional categories.
• The emergence of the Indo-Pacific over the last decade cutting across many traditionally defined regions such as South Asia and Southeast Asia is one example.
• The financial power of the Arab Gulf, Africa’s rapid economic growth, and Europe’s southern outreach point to the exciting new opportunities for India to the west of the Subcontinent. Example: The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)
• Example: The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)
• India must now invest more resources — diplomatic, political, economic, and security — in engaging with Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East Erase the old mental maps that saw these regions as separate entities.
• Erase the old mental maps that saw these regions as separate entities.
Imperatives for India to replace its policy of “non-alignment”with the idea of “multi-alignment”:
• The conflict between the great powers has intensified: The freedom to do what you want with each one of them without incurring costs with the other has begun to reduce.
• Multi-alignment gives a false sense of symmetry in the relations with the major powers.
• In the real world there is considerable variation in the current economic and security salience of these relations and their future possibilities. For example, the trade and technology relationship with the US and Europe far outweighs that with Russia.
• For example, the trade and technology relationship with the US and Europe far outweighs that with Russia.
• Russia was a major defense partner in the past. India’s security ties are far more diverse now. India’s large trade relationship with China is marred by massive deficits and security challenges.
• India’s large trade relationship with China is marred by massive deficits and security challenges.
• The logic of geography: Unlike in the Cold War, when the great powers were some distance away, today the second-most important power, China, is India’s neighbor.
• India is locked in a wide-ranging conflict with China that is at odds with the US and getting closer to Russia.
• The expansion of India’s own weight in the international system has given some space to India in navigating the new great-power rivalry. That space is limited and is shrinking. India will have to make choices on the issues at hand in the unfolding great-power contestation. Choices on each issue will have to be based on a cold calculation of material interests and not slogans like “multi-alignment” and “multipolarity”.
• That space is limited and is shrinking.
• India will have to make choices on the issues at hand in the unfolding great-power contestation.
• Choices on each issue will have to be based on a cold calculation of material interests and not slogans like “multi-alignment” and “multipolarity”.
Way Forward
• India needs to tone down its expansive rhetoric on India’s rise: Its aggregate GDP of nearly $4 trillion should not obscure the fact that India’s per capita GDP is barely $2,800.
• India’s developmental challenges are huge, so is the problem of dealing with growing inequality within. India’s growing global influence must, in essence, be about leveraging the world for the rapid expansion of domestic prosperity and equity.F
• India’s growing global influence must, in essence, be about leveraging the world for the rapid expansion of domestic prosperity and equity.F
• India should avoid the evident dangers of overreach. Overestimating India’s strength and underestimating the challenges at hand lead to geopolitical hubris and complacency in policymaking that could cost India dearly.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
• The long sustained image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalized nations has disappeared on account of its new found role in the emerging global order.’ Elaborate(UPSC 2019)
(200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
Editorial Analysis – 19 June 2024[PDF]