Indian Foreign Policy under Modi: A New Brand or Just Repackaging?

Abstract

This forum comes from a 2016 panel at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association. The forum participants offered midterm assessments of the foreign policy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This forum considers whether Modi heralded in a new era in Indian foreign policy, or whether Modi's policies just repackaged older policies. The authors in this forum answer these questions by focusing on a range of issues from the role of religion to economic issues, to the relations between India and major foreign partners. The authors conclude that while Modi has undeniably put a personal stamp on foreign policy, substantive changes have been minimal. The first significant change lies in the centralization of foreign policy decision-making in the Prime Minister's Office. Second, while religious diplomacy played an important role, the version of Hinduism that Modi has adopted in foreign affairs is more inclusive than the one on display in domestic politics. Third, India's foreign economic policy has adopted a distinct nationalist tone. Fourth, Modi has signaled a "neighborhood first" focus in foreign policy. Finally, despite attempts at imparting his personal stamp, India's foreign policy towards major partners and in most issue areas remains substantively similar to those of the previous administrations.Resumen: Este debate surgió a partir de un panel de la reunión anual de la Asociación de Estudios Internacionales realizada en 2016. Los participantes presentaron sus evaluaciones intermedias de la política exterior de Narendra Modi, primer ministro de India. El debate analiza si Modi instauró una nueva era en la política exterior india o si, por el contrario, simplemente les dio un lavado de cara a las políticas anteriores. Para responder estas preguntas, los autores del debate se centran en varias cuestiones: desde el papel que juega la religión y los problemas económicos hasta las Gupta, Surupa et al.

The “I” in BRICS: leadership traits of Indian prime ministers and India's role adaptation to rising status in world politics

“…14 The identification of the types of roles of India has proven to be relatively consistent with other works on India’s foreign policy (e.g. Friedrichs 2019 ; Ganguly 2018a , b ; Gupta et al 2019 ; Hansel and Möller 2015 ; Plagemann and Destradi 2019 ).…”

“…Concurrently, India focused on achieving a status of newly industrialising state. India took a more generous approach to its neighbours in the 1990s (Gupta et al 2019 ; Malone et al 2015 ). Moreover, it developed nuclear capabilities to cope with neighbouring Pakistan’s own nuclear ambitions (Sinha 2016 ).…”

India–South Korea Relations Under ‘Special Strategic Partnership’: ‘Act East Policy’ Meets ‘New Southern Policy’

“…India’s reaching out to Korea also reflects Modi’s government’s reinvigorated approach to foreign policy that aimed at enhancing India’s regional and global profile (Chaulia, 2016). A greater emphasis on development aspects in foreign policy gave further impetus for New Delhi interest to promote development partnership with advanced economies like Korea (Gupta & Mullen, 2018). In this direction, India encouraged Korea’s participation in Modi government’s key initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, Digital India and Smart City Projects.…”

Modi looks West? Assessing change and continuity in India’s Middle East policy since 2014

“…Other scholars (including in this special issue) have argued that Prime Minister Modi's diplomatic initiatives have actually been strongly consistent with past foreign policy practices (Basrur 2017;Ganguly 2017;Gupta et al 2019;Hall 2019). To contribute to this debate, this paper aims to determine whether the new diplomatic activity under Modi's tenure as Prime Minister has signalled a substantial foreign policy change in India's approach to the Middle East since 2014.…”

“…The Modi government has indeed been very vocal about its 'Think West' initiative (which has also been varyingly labelled 'Look West', 'Act West' or 'Link West' over the last five years) that would match the 'Act East' policy and institutionalized engagement of South East Asian economies (Baru 2015;Jaishankar 2015;Mohan 2014). While a tilt to Israel could have been expected, given Modi's expressed preference for a closer political and security relationship with Tel Aviv (Purayil 2020), other drivers such as the quest to secure access to energy resources and investments (Gupta et al 2019;Hall 2019: 105-106), and the growing engagement with India's diaspora (Hall 2019: 87-88;Pradhan and Mohapatra 2020), have also pushed Modi to prioritize a rapprochement with the Gulf states since 2015.…”