India's Grand Strategy

INDIA’S GRAND STRATEGY War and International Politics in South Asia Series Editor: Srinath Raghavan Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. This Series seeks to foster original and rigorous scholarship on the dynamics of war and international politics in South Asia. Following Clausewitz,war is understood as both a political and a social phenomenon which manifests itself in a variety of forms ranging from total wars to armed insurrections. International politics is closely intertwined with it, for war not only plays an important role in the formation of an international order but also a threat to its continued existence. The Series will therefore focus on the international as well as domestic dimensions of war and security in South Asia. Comparative studies with other geographical areas are also of interest. A fundamental premise of this Series is that we cannot do justice to the complexities of war by studying it from any single, privileged academic stand point; the phenomenon is best explained in a multidisciplinary framework. The Series welcomes a wide array of approaches, paradigms and methodologies, and is interested in historical, theoretical, and policy- oriented scholarship. In addition to monographs, the Series will from time to time publish collections of essays. Also in this Series Fighting Like a Guerrilla: The Indian Army and Counterinsurgency Rajesh Rajagopalan ISBN 978-0-415-45684-5 Indian Foreign Policy in a Unipolar World Editor: Harsh V. Pant HB ISBN 978-0-415-48004-8 PB ISBN 978-0-415-84306-5 India’s Nuclear Debate: Exceptionalism and the Bomb Priyanjali Malik ISBN 978-0-415-56312-3 Interrogating International Relations: India’s Strategic Practice and the Return of History Jayashree Vivekanandan ISBN 978-0-415-59812-5 INDIA’S GRAND STRATEGY History, Theory, Cases Editors Kanti Bajpai Saira Basit V. Krishnappa LONDON NEW YORK NEW DELHI First published 2014 in India by Routledge 912 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Kanti Bajpai, Saira Basit and V. Krishnappa Typeset by Solution Graphics A–14, Indira Puri, Loni Road Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201 102 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-415-73965-8 ‘Does India have a grand strategy’? is a contentious question, but this volume proves conclusively that a younger generation of Indian scholars respond to it with a vigorous and original ‘yes’ — even if their answers vary as to what the strategy is and should be. A must-read for those interested in new thinking in the world’s most complex and challenged great power. STEPHEN PHILIP COHEN Senior Fellow, The India Project, Foreign Policy Brookings Institution, Washington DC Here is an up-to-date, serious and thoughtful treatment of a very vital subject for all who care about India. Kanti Bajpai and his fellow editors have put together a valuable collection which will repay reading again and again. MEGHNAD DESAI Emeritus Professor of Economics, London School of Economics As India rises on the world stage, there is growing interest in the sources of its strategic conduct. Bajpai, Basit and Krishnappa map a terrain that has been barely explored. There is no better introduction to understanding India’s grand strategy. C. RAJA MOHAN Head, Strategic Studies and Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi What a magnificent achievement! A decisive refutation of the thesis that India lacks — or has not reflected on — grand strategy. This volume captures Indian thinking about grand strategy in all its nuances and variations. No scholar of Indian national security can afford not to engage it. ASHLEY J. TELLIS Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Washington DC India’s economic rise at the turn of the century has rekindled interest in India’s global role and aspirations. This collection of essays is a valuable introduction to an emerging literature on how India views its rise and what it means for the world. SANJAYA BARU Director, Geo-Economics and Strategy The International Institute for Strategic Studies, London This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword by Arvind Gupta and Sven G. Holtsmark ix Acknowledgements xiii Introduction: India’s Grand Strategic Thought and Practice 1 Kanti Bajpai, Saira Basit and V. Krishnappa Part I: Grand Strategy in Indian History 1. ‘Grand Strategic Thought’ in the Ramayana and Mahabharata 31 Swarna Rajagopalan 2. Strategy, Legitimacy and the Imperium: Framing the Mughal Strategic Discourse 63 Jayashree Vivekanandan 3. Liberal Thought and Colonial Military Institutions 86 Srinath Raghavan Part II: Grand Strategy in Modern India 4. Indian Grand Strategy: Six Schools of Thought 113 Kanti Bajpai 5. Nehru’s Advocacy of Internationalism and Indian Foreign Policy 151 S. Kalyanaraman 6. Economic Modernisation and the Growing Influence of Neoliberalism in India’s Strategic Thought 176 N. S. Sisodia 7. An Elephant with a Small ‘Footprint’: The Realist Roots of India’s Strategic Thought and Policies 200 Bharat Karnad 8. ‘Jiski Lathi, Uski Bhains’: The Hindu Nationalist View of International Politics 234 Rahul Sagar viii Contents 9. Securing India: Gandhian Intuitions 258 Siddharth Mallavarapu Part III: Grand Strategy: Core Interests and Vital Peripheries 10. Indian Strategic Culture: The Pakistan Dimension 287 Ali Ahmed 11. China, in Three Avatars 308 Tanvi Madan 12. Aberrant Conversationalists: India and the United States Since 1947 360 Rudra Chaudhuri 13. India, Afghanistan and the ‘End Game’? 376 Shanthie Mariet D’Souza 14. Collateral Damage: Iran in a Reconfigured Indian Grand Strategy 412 Sarang Shidore 15. Redefining India’s Grand Strategy? The Evolving Nature of India’s Israel Policy 449 Nicolas Blarel 16. The Institutional Origins and Determinants of India’s Africa Policy 479 Constantino Xavier Bibliography 507 About the Editors 565 Notes on Contributors 566 Index 569 FOREWORD he economic transformation of India and China in the past two Tdecades has transformed the strategic landscape of both Asia and the world. Asia is fast emerging as a geopolitical and economic pivot. It is now widely believed that the 21st century will witness the consolidation of the economic, political and technological power of Asian states. India, as one of the key Asian states, has the potential to project comprehensive power in the region and help foster a stable environment around its periphery. Skillfully handled, the forward march of India holds immense potential for securing peace and stability in the region and the world. For these and other reasons, the evolution of Indian democracy and its attitudes towards international issues are of great significance to the world community. Not surprisingly, therefore, India’s rise has increased the scholarly interest in studying India’s strategic behaviour and its ideational sources. There is an increasing number of publications analysing various aspects of India’s security and foreign policy decision making processes. However, India’s strategic thought has received only sporadic attention among scholars and commentators. This volume seeks to fill this important gap in the body of literature. The essays in the volume address the question of whether there is a coherent Indian strategic culture. The contributions taken together encourage us to believe that modern India’s foreign policy has shown a high level of consistency in its policies, views and behaviour in spite of the change in governments, ruling parties and circumstances, a fact which indicates the presence of a shared strategic culture. This Indian strategic culture can be linked to four distinct aspirations of what may be called the Indian strategic elite. First, the quest for strategic autonomy and equality of status — a post-colonial state’s striving for independent identity and international personality in accordance with its size, civilisational heritage, historical experience and its vision for the post-colonial world order. Second, reconcilia- tion of the national with internationalism — the elite world-views in post-independent India have sought to reconcile what appeared to be two conflicting ideological tendencies in the international system. x Foreword Nationalism was seen as a crucial ideological source for energy and vitality of the new nation, at the same time as internationalism was seen both as an antidote to the excesses of parochial nationalism and as an aspirational anchor for the world India wants to bring into being. Third, the quest for co-operative behaviour through peaceful resolution of international conflicts — non-violent means such as dia- logue and international law are preferred over military and coercive means. Fourth, the quest for political, social and economic justice for all peoples of the world, especially decolonised nations. The volume details how elements of contemporary debates and the attitudes of the Indian policy elite can be found in ancient texts such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and how they are linked to administrative experience during Mughal rule and elite world- views during the colonial period. The Indian tradition of strategic thought emphasises the concept of dharma — a set of rules that bound the ruler and the ruled alike. Also, Indian concepts of statecraft had strong moral and ethical undertones in contrast to the contemporary realist emphasis on aggregate power and material factors. Even more significant from the point of view of the contemporary world is the Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the idea of seeing the entire earth as one family.

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