With the end of the Cold War, India found itself with out a clear-cut foreign policy. Its position as a non-aligned regional power no longer had any meaning with the end of the polar conflict between the USSR and the United States. It could no longer rely on playing both sides of the ideological conflict between Moscow and Washington to receive funding, weapons and support. Now, India was forced to develop a new foreign policy based upon its own needs for survival.
India is a geographically vulnerable country. Located in South Asia, this giant of a country has had the misfortune of being located between some of the most unstable and potentially dangerous areas in the world. With its proximity to China, Southeast Asia, East Africa, the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Western Asia (including Pakistan), leads India to face potential security threats from all sides. Yet its location also gives it the excellent position of being placed in the middle of the major trade route between Europe, the Middle East, the East Indies and Japan. Its location is both a blessing and a curse for India. With these conditions in mind, India developed its foreign policy goals and objectives.
Originally, India was supposed to be a nation of peace. Prime Minister Nehru stated that Indian foreign policy would be governed by the “Five Principles" (Panch Shila): mutual respect for other nations', territorial integrity and sovereignty; non-aggression, noninterference in internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence between all nations. These original grand ideals for foreign policy were never realized. Hostilities broke out between India and Pakistan less than a month after independence. However, these basic principles still guide Indian decision makers in determining Indian foreign policy.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Indian plans for non-alignment faltered. It could no longer rely on help from both Soviets and Americans and was now forced to expand upon its relationship with the Western powers. The changes on the world scene caused India to develop a new policy, based in Nehru’s basic principles, that did not include reliance on playing the role as a buffer between the two superpowers.
First and foremost, Indian foreign policy calls for the preservation and control of its national boundaries. India fears, and rightfully so, that if it relaxes it control of key border regions of the country, they will be snapped away by China, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Regions like Kashmir and Jammu bordering Pakistan have been focal points of conflict between the two nations even before statehood was granted. Border skirmishes between China and India have taken place in the past and China still controls the area of Aksai Chin and along the McMahon line running alongside the Sino-Indo border between Nepal and Burma. India also faces the huge periodic flood of refugees from Bangladesh. When thousand upon thousands of refugees flood India, it finds itself unable to care for its own people and the refugees at the same time. Military force is used to prevent the onslaught of Bengalis from crossing the boundary into India.
The biggest area of territory concern lies in the Kashmir area. Made up of the separate states of Kashmir and Jammu, the Kashmir region has been the catalyst for India’s tensions with Pakistan ever since independence. The Indian government views Kashmir as the territory of India and under their policy, have the rights to manage it how they see best fit. A main focal point of Indian foreign policy is maintaining control of this area.
Secondly, India’s foreign policy calls for its assertion as the area’s dominant regional power. With the large standing army and its new declaration of nuclear capabilities, India has positioned itself as the major military power in the area. Its biggest rival and chief threat, Pakistan, has only half the number of soldiers of India. With the constant conflict with Pakistan and the fear of China to the north, India feels the need to maintain a large standing army in case of all out war between one or both of these nations.
India has the largest economy in South Asia. With its enormous and rapidly growing population, Indian foreign policy calls for the economic expansion throughout the area in order to prevent a per capita decrease in income for the nation. If the population growth rate continues to exceed the economic growth rate, per capita the nation will grow poorer. New programs have been designed to encourage expansion into new markets to increase economic growth to match that of its growing population, especially in the information technology sector. To expand its economic influences, India is looking to expand into Western markets and has begun to liberalize its economy as well, allowing more foreign goods and investments to enter.
Although India is attempting to globalize, Indian foreign policy calls for a continued position of nonalignment. It refuses to sign into treaties or alliances that would potentially lead them into war. India is quite ready though to sign treaties banning alliances. Recently, India signed into an agreement with Russia that prevents both countries from joining any alliance that may one day bring the two nations into war with each other. An example of India’s determination to be free from foreign entanglements is the Shimla Agreement, which agrees that no third party can involve itself in any nature when it comes to peace discussions between Pakistan and India.
India’s nonalignment policy is not a statement of neutrality though. As Prime Minister Nehru stated, “It is a positive and a vital policy that flows from our struggle for freedom and from Mahatma Gandhi… When a man’s liberty or peace is in danger, we cannot and shall not be neutral; neutrality then would be a betrayal of what we have fought for and stand for.” If the fight was true and for good, India would have no problem joining in on the side that it believed fought for peace and order.
While India states that it is a nation of peace, its recent actions might prove otherwise. In May of 1998, India detonated its tested its first nuclear weapon. This detonation signaled to the world that India is now a member of a select group of nations that have nuclear capabilities. As well as signaling that it is now nuclear, it also showed the world that India is now looking to advance on the world stage and move beyond its role as a dominate regional power into an actor and player on the international scene. India still stated it wants to maintain the status quo but it movement into the nuclear playing field suggest otherwise.
India is a country with 4 major religions, 12 major languages, and thousands of regional dialects. With such cultural and religious diversity, India faces problems in maintaining domestic tranquility. With enormous potential for conflict, India’s foreign policy is clear and direct. Its directly states that India’s internal matters are India’s and are not the concern of any other nation.
One of India’s largest domestic problems is dealing with its “isms.” Nationalism, regionalism, racism, classism, as well as religious intolerance threaten the stability of India. Each of these “isms” is based upon an idea of cultural superiority over another group or section of the country. A lack of communication between and ignorance of other groups leads to these false feelings of superiority.
With strong nationalist movements, determining who is the enemy is sometimes a challenge. Within the chaos of the Indian political scene, separatist groups work to break away from India and form independent states. India categorize Pakistan as the only group trying to break away Kashmir for example. They also have to deal with the dozens of national groups made up of Indian citizens that are working and fighting for independence of the Kashmir. The methods that each group uses to achieve their goals are different. Some of the major groups include:
· Independent militant Sikh groups are also working to found an independent state in the Khalistan region.
· Tamil Tigers – Militant Hindu group that maintains bases in Southern India and fights for an autonomous region in Sri Lanka.
Regionalism affects the development of Indian foreign policy as well. The Southern states do not care as much about Kashmir rebels as they do about Tamil guerrillas operating in their area. Racism towards Muslims or Hindus or Sikhs or foreigners prevents the India from fully becoming and nation. The social structure of the caste system is also detrimental to Indian foreign policy because foreign nations are sometimes appalled with the way the members of the lower social classes are treated. These nations refuse to operate under normal conditions under India begins to make effort to improve human rights.
India does not treat all international actors the same. Since its independence, India has had major interactions with only a few nations. Some of the interactions were hostile, such as those with Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Others were for an economic standpoint, such as its relationships with Japan, the European Union, Myanmar and the other economically growing nations in Asia. India’s relationships with both Russia and the United States have been both economically and military in nature. Each of the major interactions will be discussed below:
In order to understand the current posturing between India and Pakistan, one must look at the historical interactions between these two nations. Pakistan, Bangladesh and India were originally all the governed under the British government as the colony of India. After the struggles for independence, the British government decided to partition up the colony into two separate states. Areas of large Muslim populations were to become both East and West Pakistan while the largely Hindu areas where to become India. Certain Principalities were given the choice of which nation they were to join. All chose India because of the incentives the richer Indian government granted them.
One of the areas that pledged itself to India was the regions of Kashmir and Jammu. Both of these areas were over 80% Muslim but were governed by Hindu leadership. An area rich in resources, the Kashmir region also held the source for a large part of Pakistan’s fresh water rivers. The Indian government, not believing in the partitioning of the Indian colony quickly seized the Kashmir region after independence. Massive amounts of Hindu refugees fled through this area with Muslim refugees passing through this area to Pakistan. Here, atrocities were committed by both sides against each other. Full wars were fought in 1948, 1965 and 1971 over the Kashmir area with small skirmished periodically erupting in the region.
The Kashmir region is important to India for several reasons. First of all, it is an area rich in natural resources. There is great potential for hydroelectric power there as well as mineral wealth. Secondly, Kashmir is the source for fresh water for Pakistan and full control by India would give them a powerful weapon against Pakistan if further conflicts should erupt.
It has remained India’s position that Pakistan organizes and sponsors terrorism in the Kashmir area. They claim that the targets are Muslim and contradict Islamabad’s arguments of concern for the welfare of Muslims in Kashmir. India also believes that because Kashmir and Jammu are the territory of India, it is an internal matter and strictly India’s affair. They have stated that any movement by Pakistani or Pakistani sponsored groups is a direct infringement on Indian sovereignty and all such acts against humanity must be eradicated.
While India has always stated that it aims to avoid arms races, its recent detonation of an atomic weapon led Pakistan to respond in a similar matter. With these two newly announced nuclear powers in such a hostile stance towards each other, both nations have stated that their weapons will only be used for defensive purposes. These defensive purposes were never defined so the conditions that could lead to a nuclear exchange remain vague.
India’s interactions with China have changed through the years from optimism to extreme distrust. Originally, when China first came under Communist rule, India had visions of creating a brotherhood of cooperation between China and India that would help calm the two superpowers and prevent the Americans and Soviets from annihilating the world up. India was one of the first nations to recognize the People’s Republic of China and start up relations with Chairman Mao’s government. India’s optimism soon came crashing down when China began occupying disputed the border area of Aksai Chin and along the McMahon Line running from Nepal to Burma. India further protested when China occupied and refused to leave Tibet. Indian leaders then infuriated Beijing by granting the Dalai Llama amnesty.
With the failings of the Great Leap Forward, straining Sino-Soviet relations and with new military supplies from the USSR, India attempted to reestablish control in their disputed territory with China. However in 1962, a large Chinese army devastated the elite Indian forces and moved quickly into the Northern province of Punjab. Only after Soviet political intervention and the dispatching of American and English bombers to Northern India did the Chinese withdrawal to leave an extremely demoralized India behind. To this day, India distrusts and fears its larger neighbor to the north.
When the Colony of India was partitioned in 1946, the largely Muslim areas on the eastern and western sides of the colony became the nation of Pakistan. West Pakistan was much richer than its eastern counterpart. With its large distance from the West, being an area lacking in industry and susceptible to devastating annual flooding, East Pakistan was a burden on the West. Yet in 1970, in the first democratic elections of Pakistan, the leader of Eastern Pakistan, Mujibur Rahman, was elected Prime Minister. The West Pakistani leader, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, refused to honor the elections and ordered Rahman thrown into prison. After Rahman called for Bengali’s in East Pakistan to rise up against the West Pakistani leaders, Yahya Khan ordered a massacre of demonstrators in Dhaka. During the eight months of martial rule that followed, an estimated 10 million refugees fled East Pakistan into India. The Indian army in response then marched into Dhaka, which was surrendered in 1971. The new Pakistani leader, President Bhutto released Rahman in 1972 and he became the new leader of the state of Bangladesh.
Today India works hard to prevent overwhelming amounts of immigrants from fleeing the overpopulated, and natural disaster prone Bangladesh. The Indian army has been used to prevent the immigrants from entering the country or for population control for refugees already in the country. The Indian government tries to reduce and limit the number of Bengali refugees for several reasons. First of all, they do because they cannot afford to feed foreign refugees when they have hard time feeding their own population. The other reason is because the Bengali are mostly Muslim. In a country that is often facing internal crisis between Muslims and Hindus, the government works to prevent a large increase in the Muslim minority that could further divide the country.
India was able to successfully invade East Pakistan largely because of military support and diplomatic assurances from the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation, signed in 1971 by India with the Soviet Union, gave India the arms it used in the war. India began to create ties with Russia soon after is saw its grand scheme of brotherhood with China fail. As their relations with China soured, the Soviets extended a hand to the Indian government as part of a balancing move for Asia that would prevent China from becoming the Asian hegemony. Indo-Soviet exchanges to India included loans, technology transfers, military sales and the donation of food supplies in exchange for textiles and other manufactured goods.
The Soviets also took an active role on negotiating peace between Pakistan and India. A Soviet sponsored conference in January of 1966 led to an agreement to restore normal and peaceful relations between Pakistan and India. Although India was never aligned to either the Soviets or to the Americans, after the Soviet show of support in the Bangladesh War, Indian foreign policy had a slight Soviet tilt.
Although India was a democratic nation, it often found itself at odds with the policies and actions of the United States. In support of Pakistan and to make efforts to “evacuate the citizens of Dhaka” during the Bangladesh war, the US sent over a nuclear equipped aircraft carrier to accomplish the mission. Although the carrier arrived after the conclusion of the war, to many Indians it seemed if the US was “nuclear weapons rattling” towards India. This spurned the launch of India’s nuclear weapons program in 1972 and the detonation of a plutonium device two years later.
In the early 1970’s the Indian was paranoid about supposed US intervention in India. Investigations were launched into whether CIA meddling occurred when local Indian politics went awry. With the disaster in Bhopal, when the Union Carbide Chemical plants spewed more than 50 thousand pounds of methyl isocyanate over the city killing 2000 people, Indian distrust for American corporations grew even larger.
Later on, in the late1980’s, efforts were made to improve Indo-American relations. Greater trade, scientific cooperation, and cultural exchanges helped lead to better understanding between the nations.
More recently relations have soured. With India’s detonation of their nuclear weapon in May of 1998, the United States placed economic sanctions against India. India has resisted strong US pressure to sign a non-proliferation treaty. India argued for their testing to both the US and the world stage. They tested the weapons as a way for the world to see that India “has arrived” and as a way to discourage aggressive actions by neighboring countries. Sanctions were later lifted after India promised to sign into a non-proliferation agreement.
Although a member of the Commonwealth, India has distanced themselves from the group. In the past twenty years, India has only once sent a representative to the Commonwealth meetings. Relations between the two nations remain friendly. India has stated that the Commonwealth is a group of interdependent states that are still reliant on each other. In an attempt to separate itself from all interdependency, India continues to develop its own identity on the international stage and tries to separate itself from past colonial ties.
The Idiosyncrasies of India’s leadership lean heavily towards skills for coalition building. The nature of Indian government ensures only leaders skilled in the art of coalition building will rise to the office of Prime Minister. Indian leaders tend to have the values of non-violence and will resort to violence only if they believe it is their last option. In the traditions of Gandhi and of the Panch Shila, Indian leaders do their best to keep India from becoming embroiled in international conflict and always try to use dialogue to solve their issues.
The expectations for role of the head of state of India are complex. The leader is supposed to challenge and hold the status quo on the nations boundaries, build coalitions with the government and provide an honest character for Indian to follow. These leaders of India tend to have come from a common background and most have been family descended from Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister. With India being a country composed of four major religions, the Prime Minister is also expected to listen to the concerns and issue of each of the four groups with an open mind or face the possibility of another separatist action from one of the religions.
The government of India is difficult to categorize as an open or closed system. . It is a parliamentary system with two major political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party fighting for control of both upper and lower Congresses. While it is the world’s largest democracy, obtaining a position in the government is far from democratic. The basis of Indian society limits the scope of openness for governmental participation.
The composition of Indian society is based upon the caste system. This system, which organizes society based upon a hierarchal level of classes. Depending on which they were born in, determines the personals social class for life. This system prevents social mobility. The members of the untouchables or lowest class in the caste system have no chance whatsoever of ever becoming Prime Minister or even positions of leadership within the government. While the government has set aside 27% of all government jobs for member of the lowest classes, these jobs are menial and do not allow the poor to join in the ranks of decision making.
India believes however that it is an open democracy. A statement issued from its embassy states:
“It is a fact universally acknowledged that a democratic polity is best equipped to enable the people to fulfill their aspirations and govern their own destiny in an atmosphere of freedom. Participatory government where the people choose their own representatives and leaders is the most effective instrument for the social, economic, political and cultural development of a nation providing also for the preservation and strengthening of the identity of the various ethnic, religious, and racial communities that constitute today’s nation states.”
The Indian government is based on coalitions. It is impossible for the ruling power to maintain the positions without support from the far right or left wings in Congress. When a party looses support, the ruling coalition falls and new elections must be held to see who will lead. During this period of crisis, agreements are made and alliances formed in order for one of the stronger parties to come into power. They are forced to keep most of their promises or a vote of non-confidence will cause a new round of elections.
The societal aspect is India is based on one of the major religions. Hindu, Sikh, Islam and Buddhism help define the societal values and images of India. Mahatma Gandhi set the example for all Indians during India’s struggle for peace. His protest methods of civil disobedience are still practiced in India today.
More disturbingly is the image of the nuclear bomb as a symbol of pride for India. This detonation, despite being a loud and obvious announcement of nuclear capabilities hid some of the reality of the mindset of India’s leadership. India’s detonation was a poor man’s way of entering the world stage. Instead of entering the world power stage by sporting a large economy, stability or powerful army, India butted its way in the stage. This imagery is seen by Indians as a symbol of their national power but hides the reality of poverty and other domestic problems.
India’s society also is facing a problem with integration into the world scene. The image of cultural superiority of the Hindu faith has led India to ignore expansion into the rapidly growing non-Hindu Asian nations. Their belief in cultural strength has led to many Indians to ignore regional opportunities for economic growth. Also, the belief of cultural superiority has discouraged direct foreign investment into India. Regional countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have greatly benefited from foreign investment because they are more accepting of other cultures and ideas than many Indians are.
India’s location has a direct impact on its foreign policy. As discussed earlier, India lies in a geographically vulnerable area with potential security threats from all sides. This systemic consideration has influenced India to build a large standing army and develop and test nuclear weapons. Yet they continue to position themselves as a peaceful non-expansionist nation in order to avoid the ire of their neighbors.
India’s foreign policy is comprised of the five basic ideological themes Nehru presented in his “Five Principles”. The first principle of national self-determination means that Indians believe that they, without interference from other countries, have the right to determine what actions they take inside of their borders in an action they see most fit. India has refused international mediation in their Kashmir dispute because they believe it is their right to determine the best course of action.
The second principle is that of anti-colonialism. Indians remain anti-colonial and even though today, the traditional form of colonialism is largely absent, the Indian people fear neo-colonialism in the form of international corporations dominating the Indian economy, political system and culture. Many barriers have been set up to prevent foreign companies from entering and establishing themselves within India. Bureaucratic red tape discourages foreign companies from entering the Indian domestic markets.
Third of all is the ideal of non-interference in other nation’s affairs. Indian foreign policy ignores issues or problems that remain intranational for they remain within another countries boundaries. It is only when the problem become international does the foreign policy call for intervention.
Fourth, Indian foreign policy calls for international peace. India has restrained from becoming embroiled in non-regional combats and has pledged support to problems where they deem it is needed. Examples include supporting UN forces in the Korean and Persian Gulf wars.
Finally the last ideology of Indian foreign policy calls for peaceful cooperation for mutual benefit. The legacy of Gandhi remains with Indian foreign policy makers to set up dialogue and conferences to solve international problems instead of military force.
While Indian ideology governs the way the foreign policy acts internationally, the effects of Indian nationalism has a greater effect domestically. India, being so diverse is very vulnerable to nationalist desires from its many groups. While its people may see themselves as Indians, for some it is more important to be a nation of Sikh instead of a nation of Indians. India’s minority religions tend to be clustered in regions of the country and this limits interaction with the other groups. Cultural superiority is pervasive throughout each of the religions. Blame is placed on those who have had no effect but make an easy target.
India’s nationalism may be preventing the full development of the nation. The idea of cultural superiority has discouraged India from integrating into the global economy as well as expanding into regional markets. Many Indians who have not experienced any culture besides their own simply believe that theirs is superior and tend to ignore and isolate themselves from outside ideas, products and services.
India is not just a hodgepodge of unrelated cultures. The conflict in Kashmir has served as a rallying point in which at least three of the major groups can agree on as well. National pride was seen with the great national rejoicing over the detonation of the nuclear weapon. This action however may have many Indians overestimating their own capabilities on the world stage.
India has the world’s fourth largest army in terms of manpower but lacks in military spending. It spends 2.5% of its GNP on military expenditures that equal out to approximately $10.055 billion. In efforts to update its capabilities, India has recently purchased Russian tanks fighters and weapons with pledges to purchase more in the future.
As stated earlier, India is a declared nuclear power. The Indian government is using its nuclear weapons to set up a policy of deterrence towards any nation that might come into military conflict with India; most noticeably China and Pakistan. The military power and capabilities of India and lack of a true military rival has placed it as the dominant regional power in South Asia.
India was blessed by inheriting the railroad system built by the British. The railroad connected the nation and has allowed for the transport of goods across the country. Economically, India is moving away from being an agricultural country with the service sector making up 45% of the GDP while agriculture made up 25% and industry making up 30%. India’s economy ranges from small village handicraft all the way to information technology system and pharmaceuticals.
The country has a strong industrial sector producing textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, and machinery for internal use and regional export. Their pharmaceutical and information technology sectors have grown now to the point where they now compete on the international level. Their textile industry remains one of the world’s largest.
India sits on a large amount of natural resources including coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, and arable land. India also has a huge work force to extract these resources. The growth of India’s educated workforce, trained in Western schools, has eliminate the need for foreign consulting and gives India its own service based sector.
India’s exports of textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, and chemicals are mostly shipped to the main economic powers in the world with some regional countries as well making up a good size of the nations exports. The nation of the United Arab Emirates makes up 4% of India’s exports, only 1% less than Japan. India is also exporting manufactured goods instead of raw materials showing that it is an industrialized nation. This limits the dependency of India on developed nations for manufactured goods.
India is reliant on other nations for energy. While it consumed 416.346 billion kWh in 1998, it was not able to produce all of the energy on its own. It relied on the importation of 1.575 billion kWh to fulfill its needs. India’s largest imports are all energy related with crude oil and petroleum products being the largest percentage.
India is also reliant on other nations for some machinery and other high tech goods. While it is expanding its capabilities, it is not on equal par with the most developed nations. It is also reliant on foreign aid with 2.9 billion entering the country in 1998.
In order to pursue its goals of foreign policy, India has not entered very many international treaties or alliances, following its ideal of non-alignment. In following its ideology of dialogue instead of violence and the promotion of peace, India set up a regional association where South Asian countries had a forum to discuss their issues peacefully. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was originally set up as a forum for talks with Pakistan over Kashmir. Later on it has encompassed such issues as trade, terrorism and environmental degradation.
India is also a member of the Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), a forum to promote economic cooperation between the member nations.
India is also pushing to become a permanent member of the United Nations. It points out is economic growth, population size, stable government and regional and importance as reasons for acceptance as a permanent member.
India’s foreign policy, although changed from independence, through the Cold War and into contemporary age still is guided by the original five principles of Nehru. Their economic and military dominance over South Asia and its expansion economically has greatly improved India’s status on the global level. Its new status as a declared nuclear power though may be hiding some growing problems of nationalism that may lead sections of the country to search for greater autonomy or independence. Now that India has announced its global status with an exposion, it will be a struggle to maintain its original five principles as it become faced with new and more dangerous situations.