India’s Foreign Policy A Panorama Some Vignettes from the Past and the Present R. Rajagopalan August 9, 2019 1 What is Foreign Policy? The policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states 2 A country's foreign policy, consists of self- interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests * and to achieve goals within its international relations milieu. [* May include values, ideologies and traditions] 3 Foreign Policy & Diplomacy General objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic considerations,, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs. Diplomacy is the tool of foreign policy, and war, alliances, and international trade may all be manifestations of it. 4 Strategic Culture in India The Lament The debate about the existence of strategic culture in India, views are often rudimentary and impulsive rather than based on an objective definition and understanding. The main reason for this is a lack of research and availability of literature on these dimensions . ... .An awareness of the distinction and essential relationship between strategic thinking (philosophical and intellectual discourse) and strategic culture (experience, action, attitude and habit) is also important in the process of this investigation. IDSA Conference on ‘Exploring the Roots of India's Strategic Culture’, October 5, 2017 -Concept note 5 India’s Strategic Culture Rodney W. Jones India’s strategic culture is not monolithic, rather is mosaic-like, but as a composite is more distinct and coherent than that of most contemporary nation- states.This is due to its substantial continuity with the symbolism of pre-modern Indian state systems and threads of Hindu or Vedic civilization dating back several millennia. Embedded in educated social elites, the consciousness of Hindu values has been resident in essentially the same territorial space, namely, the Indian subcontinent. This continuity of values was battered and overlaid but never severed or completely submerged, whether by Muslim invasions and Mughal rule, the seaborne arrival of French and Portuguese adventurers and missionaries, or the encroachment of the British Empire – with its implantation of representative political institutions and modern law. [Prepared for: DefenseThreat Reduction Agency] https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dtra/india.pdf 6 Ramayana Artha Shastra th 7 /4th centuries BCE ~ 3rd century CE 2nd century BCE ~ 3rd century CE Plato Tirukkural 5th Century BCE 1st century BCE ~ 6th century CE Mahabharata Confucius Bhagwat Gita 551–479 BCE fifth century BCE ~second century BCE Sun Tzu 544–496 BCE 7 Kauṭilya - Vishnugupta – Chanakya 2nd century BCE ~3rd century CE The Arthashastra is a timeless and comprehensive treatise on all facets of statecraft: politics, law, economy, management of war and peace, intelligence, foreign policy, and diplomacy. 8 TIRUKKURAL The chapters on politics, ministers, state, defence, finance, army and friendship apply to all kinds of government from monarchy of Thiruvalluvar’s time down to the modern democracy. c. 1st century BC or 6th century AD 9 Ashoka the Great c. 268 BCE to 232 BCE Raja Raja Chola I 985 CE - 1014 CE 10 Scope of this lecture Past lectures have covered Indian Classical Concepts in Foreign & Security Policies, Ancient Indian thought on strategy, specific policies on sectoral subjects – and lectures following this talk will cover foreign relations with specific countries and regions. This lecture will peripherally touch upon them to illustrate the trends in policy in general. [Trends in] India’s Foreign policy – in the last seven decades – with a brief ‘mention’ of the immediate and distant past Trends? -- Continuity? -- Change? 11 Significant Mile-Stones / Dates Pre-Independence 1971 - 1977 1947 to 1964 09 August 1971 October 1962 India signs a 20-year treaty of 1962 to 1970 friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union Apr – Sep 1965 03 December 1971 India – Pak war - 1965 Bangladesh Liberation war 30 Jun 1965 02 July 1972 Cease-fire agreement n Rann of The Shimla Agreement Kutch 10 January 1966 8 May 1974 The Tashkent Declaration Pokhran - I 12 1977 to1990 2004 to 2014 June 2005 1991 to 1996 United States -India Defence Economic Reforms Of 1991 framework agreement 26 December 1991 18 July 2005 Dissolution of The Soviet Union Joint Statement on Indo- January 1992 US nuclear deal Formal relations with Israel 2014 and beyond. 1996-1998 27 March 2019 20 June 1996 ASAT Test India rejects CTBT 1998 to 2004 11-13 May 1998 Pokhran - II 13 14 15 16 Pre-Independence As India before independence formed part of the British imperial possessions, the British Government decided her foreign policy. .... ... After she won independence India had to evolve a foreign policy of her own, devoted to her own interests. However, it would be wrong to say that before then India had no foreign policy aims apart from those of Imperial Britain. The Indian National Congress, from the time the independence movement gained strength under Gandhi's leadership, developed its own foreign policy ... Naturally it had little to do with what is strictly called international diplomacy,... …. Indian foreign policy before independence was confined to the enunciation of basic principles which would guide the country's diplomacy after independence. Acharya J. B. Kripalani "For Principled Neutrality: A New Appraisal of Indian Foreign Policy" 'Foreign Affairs', Washington (DC), Vol 38, No.1, October 1959 17 The ‘Great War’ 1914-18 18 The relations between the First World War and the Indian independence movement are complex and vital, and it is not possible to draw a direct, linear trajectory between the two. Responses to the War (India) Shantanu Das https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net 19 The Great War 28 Jul 1914 – 11 Nov 1918 20 The Great War 28 Jul 1914 – 11 Nov 1918 Over one million Indian troops served overseas. 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war and another 67,000 were wounded. 21 The Great War 28 Jul 1914 – 11 Nov 1918 June 28, 1919 Maharaja of Bikaner at the Armistice signing to end ‘World War I’ 22 23 13,218 war dead are commemorated by name on the India Gate. 24 Teen Murti Chowk is now the “Teen Murti Haifa Chowk” The three bronze statues at Teen Murti represent the Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who were part of the 15 Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade. The brigade carried out the victorious assault on the fortified city of Haifa on September 23, 1918, during World War I. Forty-four Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice during the liberation of the city in World War I. 25 Vice-President Shri Venkaiah Naidu at the Indian War Memorial at Villers Guislain, France November 10, 2018 26 World War – II 1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945 27 World War – II 1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945 The Indian National Congress, led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Azad, denounced Nazi Germany but would not fight it or anyone else until India was independent. Congress launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942, refusing to co-operate in any way with the government until independence was granted. In 1939 the British Indian Army numbered 205,000 men. It took in volunteers and by 1945 was the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men – who participated in World War – II 87,000 Indians perished in the war 28 Over 87,000 Indian soldiers died in World War II. 29 In memory of the Men of the 2nd Division who fell in the Battle of Kohima April 1944 June 1944 30 There is no War Memorial for those 87,000 who perished between 1939 and 1945 31 United Nations 1945 32 United Nations A Ramasawmy Mudaliar Commerce Member of the Governor-General’s Executive Council and leader of Indian Delegation, signing the UN Charter 26-Jun-45 33 Indian Independence act of 1947 34 15 August 1947 35 ‘The Commonwealth of Nations’ 36 TO November 1926 28 April 1949 The UK and its Dominions The Commonwealth Heads of agree they are ‘equal in status, Government issue the in no way subordinate one to London Declaration. It allows another in any aspect of their India (and henceforth all domestic or external affairs, other members) to remain in though united by common the Commonwealth without allegiance to the Crown, and having the British monarch as freely associated as members of Head of State, creates the the British Commonwealth position of Head of the of Nations’. Commonwealth, and changes the name of the organisation to ‘the Commonwealth of Nations’. 37 London Declaration - 22 – 27 April, 1949 The Governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon, whose countries are united as Members of the British Commonwealth of Nations and owe a common allegiance to the Crown, which is also the symbol of their free association, have considered the impending constitutional changes in India. The Government of India have informed the other Governments of the Commonwealth of the intention of the Indian people that under the new constitution which is about to be adopted India shall become a sovereign independent republic. The Government of India have however declared and affirmed India’s desire to continue her full membership of the Commonwealth of Nations and her acceptance of The King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. 38 Non - Alignment The1955 Bandung Asian-African Conference called for “abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers.” 39 The Non-Aligned Movement was thus born.