February 22, 2012

India’s foreign policy has become increasingly contested in domestic Indian politics, calling into question some of the assumptions and expectations that American policymakers may have about the future of US-India relations. This divergence in opinion was highlighted at the “India as a Global Power: Contending Views from India” conference.

The speakers from India at the conference disagreed on a wide range of issues, one of which was the question of India’s threat environment. Bharat Karnad, Professor at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, identified China’s military build-up and proliferation activities as the top threats to Indian security. Former Indian Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh also expressed grave concern over China’s naval presence in the Indian Ocean, though he did not consider it an imminent threat.

In contrast, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member of the Indian Parliament, was more optimistic that India could forge cooperative solutions with China on issues of common interest, such as freedom of the seas. He instead argued that Pakistan remains the most prominent threat to India. T.N. Ninan, Chairman and Chief Editor of the Business Standard, while concurring on both the Chinese and Pakistani threats, emphasized economic development as India’s top priority and said energy security and international pressure to act on climate change could hinder India’s growth trajectory. Whether or not India could or should become a global power appeared to frame the debate on threats to national security. Karnad discussed India’s threat environment in the context of balance-of-power politics. Aiyar on the other hand argued that India should “eschew the quest for dominance” and instead “use diplomacy to pursue peaceful coexistence.” While Mansingh said “the world is large enough for both [India and China] to grow and prosper” and that the issues at stake were not about dominance, he did stress India’s “right to exist as a nation,” implying the need for vigilance in the face of external challenges to its economic development.

This Policy Brief is based on an international conference on “India as a Global Power: Contending Views from India,” held at the Elliott School of International Affairs on Monday, January 23, 2012. The conference was co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Center for a New American Security and featured Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Participants included:

• Mani Shankar Aiyar (Rajya Sabha)
• Doug Bandow (Cato Institute)
• Sadanand Dhume (American Enterprise Institute)
• Richard Fontaine (Center for a New American Security)
• Bharat Karnad (Centre for Policy Research , New Delhi)
• Lalit Mansingh (Indian Foreign Service)
• Henry R. Nau (GWU)
• TN Ninan (Business Standard)
• Deepa Ollapally (GWU)
• George Perkovich (Carnegi Endowment for International Peace)
• Daniel Twining (German Marshall Fund)

Read the rest of the Policy Brief here (PDF).

By Amy Hsieh, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, The George Washington University