By Yogesh Joshi
Two recent developments indicate that nonalignment – seemingly dead in the unipolar world that succeeded the collapse of the Soviet Union – is returning through the backdoor of India’s foreign policy.
First, an influential Indian think tank released a report titled “Nonalignment 2.0: A Foreign and Strategic Policy for the 21st Century (PDF).” Interestingly, the report recommends India pursue “strategic autonomy” as the cornerstone of its foreign policy strategy. Strategic autonomy, Cold War jargon that most nonaligned nations used in that era, in practical terms means a non-commitment to any particular power bloc in international politics. The panel that proposed the report included a number of senior foreign policy thinkers such as Ambassador Shyam Saran, the chief negotiator of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Lt. Gen. (rtd.) Prakash Menon.
A second sign came with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent state visit to South Korea, where he appeared to propose a foreign policy strategy of equidistance from both the United States and China. Articulating his reservations over containment of China, Singh declared that India would maintain friendly relations with both the U.S. and China. Surprisingly, the mantra of equidistance comes from a leader who essentially heralded the most decisive pro-U.S. shift in India’s foreign policy by signing the civilian nuclear deal.
The reason for this shift isn’t clear. Is it based on nostalgia for the inertia of Nehruvian foreign policy? Or does it simply reflect a lack of a strategic culture in India?
Read the full story at The Diplomat