As India grows in economic stature, pulls more and more people out of abject

poverty, urbanises at scale and speed, expands its middle class and makes a
compelling case to be counted among world’s leading powers, a concomitant
rise is evident in its interests, global relevance and ability to project and
secure its geopolitical and geoeconomic interests. For the world, this warrants
an understanding of India’s perspectives, values, and engagements. For
Indians, this necessitates an understanding of India and its place in a rapidly
transforming world.

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Postcolonial India’s ascent (the world’s most populous nation boasting

the fastest-growing major economy that is projected to become the
third-largest by 2030, the largest active-duty military, favourable
demographics and a rich civilizational identity) after a prolonged period of
isolationism and geopolitical inconsequence has understandably seen an
explosion of global interest in India, and of India’s interest in the world.

Among the spate of analysis, literature and academic work that seeks to
capture, assess and define India’s rise and its way in the world – while
providing a window into India’s self-interpretation and gaze, how its political
identity has been informed, shaped and developed over centuries through
ancient to modern times – Dhruva Jaishankar’s just-released book, ‘Vishwa
Shastra: India and the World’, presents an exceptionally brilliant treatise.

It is a book of breathtaking expanse and scope that pleasantly surprises with a

lightness of touch and dexterity of narration. He is clearly a chip off the old
block.

Vishwa Shastra, or ‘a treatise on the world’, is a work of deep

scholarship, clear strategic vision and empathy that offers readers a
fascinating journey through the annals of history and intricacies of
statecraft. The book, divided into two parts – Itihas and Rashtriya Neeti –
deals with India’s strategic interests, how those interests could be best
defined, suggests solutions for India’s continuous rise while managing to stay
lucid and breezy.

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Jaishankar, who comes from an illustrious lineage of strategic thinkers, said
during the release of his book that it is the culmination of his journey
throughout the length and breadth of the country. Any journey is a quest. His
work is also a veritable quest to identify the strains of India’s strategic
tradition, drawing a clear connection with the tenets of contemporaneous
foreign policy while unmooring the discourse, as he writes, from “outdated
clichés and enduring myths that do not necessarily reflect the new realities
and impulses guiding India’s relations with the world.”

“These include,” writes the author, “the notions that India’s worldview remains
grounded in ‘non-alignment’, that it lacks the capacity to be a great power, that
it seeks prestige or status rather than power or influence, and that it must sort
out its internal or regional challenges before it can move on to global
aspirations.”

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To give an example of the clarity that the author brings to the discourse, let’s
take the confusion in India’s strategic circles over the narrative that India’s
leadership of the Global South is a reiteration of the erstwhile non-alignment
strategy.

Non-alignment, as India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru envisaged

during the early stages of Independent India’s policy orientation, “enabled
India to derive benefits from both the US-led and Soviet-led blocs and gave
India a natural leadership perch in the post-colonial world.” The policy wasn’t
without its critics, however, with the likes of Ambedkar worrying that it had
“unduly distanced India from potential partners” and caused India’s
alienation.

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In contrast, Jaishankar observes that India’s emphasis on Global South and

championing its cause “is much more an aspect of great power competition
than a recusal from it.” It is a clear shift from the “rhetoric of
third-worldism” to that of a “rising power.”
When prime minister Narendra Modi organized the Voice of Global South
Summit and sought to present India as the ‘bridge’ between the West and the
Global South, he was acting on the policy formulation that “The Global South
represents a strategic opportunity for India to advance its own development
objectives along with global institutional reform. By amplifying the concerns of
the Global South, India can advance both its interests and its values, in part
because the shared agenda also serves India’s interests.”

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There are several themes that run through the book as it creates a narrative
framework. Chief among those is the theme of timing. That India is in a
geopolitical sweet spot has been severally commented. Jaishankar goes
down to explaining in painstaking detail the steps that led us through this spot
– those decades constituting some of the most challenging times for Indian
leaders and policymakers as the country was hemmed in from all sides and
caught between rival blocs during the Cold War’s great power competition.

“The 1970s and 1980s were, in hindsight, difficult decades for India and its
place in the world. International and domestic circumstances meant that India
was often on the defensive and constrained. These years saw India having to
deal with—but rarely resolve—some contentious problems which would have
lasting challenges for a post-Cold War and post-liberalization India.”

The major challenges during the pre-1991 era – the decades before India’s
economic liberalization and Americas unipolar moment – are identified as
“rivalry with Pakistan, difficulties with China, the unresolved question of India’s
nuclear deterrent and status, a restive neighbourhood, and unrealized
economic potential”, exacerbated by “terrorism, separatism, and the
dissolution of India’s closest partner—the Soviet Union.”

Traversing through those difficult decades, overcoming the restrictions

imposed on India’s nuclear ambitions to emerge on the other side, getting
over the trauma of 1962 defeat against China and matching it eye to eye,
pushing Pakistan on the ropes of strategic irrelevance, Jaishankar senses an
urgency on India’s part to capitalize on the opportunities that have at last
presented themselves.
“India is entering a decisive period as it defines its role in the world. Its
developmental trajectory is positive. Its economy has more than tripled as a
share of the world since 1992. Its demographics are entering a period of peak
workforce, even as total fertility has begun to fall below replacement levels.
The geopolitical environment, while fluid, is far more favourable than in the
past, when India had to deal with decolonization and Partition, aid
dependence, separatist movements, and major wars without the benefits of
food security, a global market and a nuclear deterrent.”

And yet, he cautions, this period of hope has brought its unique set of
strategic challenges that must be met to aid India’s continuing rise. The author
identifies these threats as the flux in international system that poses
impediments in India’s path to prosperity, the need to ensure a “peaceful
and well-integrated neighbourhood”, the “formidable challenge from an
assertive China”, “a revisionist Pakistan”, “non-traditional and
transnational challenges” such as “climate change, food and energy security,
pandemics, terrorism, inflation, trade disputes and the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction”

Jaishankar’s work is both descriptive and prescriptive, and in the second part
of the book, Rashtriya Neeti (Strategy or statecraft), he lays down the
strategy for increasing the fundamentals of India’s power. In his telling, to
meet the objectives of India’s domestic development there must be
cognizance of the uniqueness of India’s political and economic circumstances,
a recognition that partnerships are essential, an understanding that
liberalization isn’t a magic pill and careful emphasis on ensuring security and
prosperity.

The author has laid down a 14-point agenda to grab the opportunities and
mitigate the challenges that rising India is faced with. He emphasizes on
improving military preparedness, implementing an industrial policy, prioritize
neighbourhood diplomacy, increase assistance and connectivity, securing the
Indian Ocean, connecting with Southeast Asia, partnering with the Quad and
other minilateral frameworks, managing the competition with China,
compelling Pakistan, engaging Afghanistan, reshaping West Asia, revitalizing
multilateral institutions, building new coalitions with countries in Global South
and amplifying the Global South – while noting that much of this work is
already under way.

India’s relationship with the United States has been assessed in detail, from
the early stages of mutual suspicion and accusations of unreliability to a point
where ties have improved than at any point in its history, extending to “military
cooperation, business, education and technology.”

China is singled out as India’s pacing challenge and the biggest threat that
casts a long shadow over India from bilateral security to regional security,
economic domination to contestation over global governance. Jaishankar’s
lens is realist, and his prescriptions are pragmatic.

Where I wish he could have spent a little more time is in defining the
importance and imperatives of India’s ties with Russia that he rightly
identifies as a precarious balancing act.

Israel-Hamas ceasefire: A ‘half-baked’ solution, yet a good beginning

Pathways for the Global South in the New Trade Paradigm

The world is immersed in a new globalization era, in transition to perhaps an

unknown outcome, in which trade is at the center of the phenomenon. Trade

is usually resilient and adapts. As far as China and other countries will need

outlets for their surpluses, market integration will follow. The question is what

kind of integration reshaping does the Global South need?

Global politics, however, and as of today, remains more fractured. An in-

crease in protectionism will have negative implications for consumers, work-

ers, and suppliers. The world needs broader support for the rules-based trade
system and the materialization of plurilateral agreements together. Three

major sources of disruptions will affect trade, integration, and the evolution

of global supply chains: climate change, the race toward the predominance of

digital technology, and geo-economic tensions.

Technology development represents, possibly, a source of optimism. It has

the potential to increase productivity, and create more efficiency gains applied

to trade, and management of supply chains and reduce its costs. Businesses

will likely find a way around this new globalization re-shaping phenomenon—

albeit with frictions—as the world remains relatively integrated.

Economies in the Global South need to keep reaping the benefits of their

increasing integration in the global supply chains and support the services

sectors and entrepreneurial activities in their industries. Governments, as

well, need to understand that access to logistics and high-quality transpor-

tation services remains key to facilitating the firm’s performance, and their

access to international markets. In this context, the role of local value chains

and regional trade agreements is going to be key to the redefinition of integra-

tion that could benefit middle-income countries and lower-income countries.

3.6 Balancing Act: Local Resources Versus

Global Market Participation

There is an opportunity to take advantage of the crucial roles that local value

chains and regional trade agreements play in the Global South with the aim of

leveraging strategies to enhance their economic positions.

One of the primary benefits of developing strong local value chains is the

potential for increased economic resilience. By fostering local production and processing capabilities, countries can
reduce their vulnerability to external

economic shocks and fluctuations in global commodity prices. This is partic-

ularly crucial for nations that have historically been heavily dependent on raw

material exports, as it allows them to capture more value from their resources

and diversify their economies.

Several countries in the Global South have successfully leveraged local

value chains to drive economic growth. One example is Ethiopia, which has

made significant strides in developing its leather industry value chain. It has

achieved a significant level of export manufacturing based on investing in

local tanneries and leather goods making. The country has transformed from

a mere exporter of raw hides to a producer of finished leather products, creat-

ing jobs and increasing export revenues in the process. Similarly, Bangladesh

has built a robust garment manufacturing value chain, evolving from a simple

cut-and-sew operation to a more integrated industry that includes textile pro-

duction and design capabilities.

As established previously, the process of building strong local value chains

is challenging. Many countries in the Global South face obstacles such as

limited access to technology, insufficient infrastructure, and a lack of skilled

labor. Additionally, competing with established global value chains can be

difficult, especially in sectors where economies of scale play a significant role.

The development of local value chains can have positive spillover effects on
other sectors of the economy and interact with broader regional trade agree-

ments (RTAs). On that front, regional trade agreements, which can range

from simple preferential arrangements to complex free trade areas or customs

unions, play a crucial role in shaping the landscape of global trade, particu-

larly in fostering South-South cooperation.

Rebalancing Globalization: Objectives and Instruments

Proponents of globalization have sometimes conflated the objectives of glo-

balization with the instruments to achieve them. For example, they have often

argued for markets to take a leading role, effectively limiting the role of the

government to macro-fiscal stability and addressing market failures when

they arose. Similarly, reducing or removing barriers to trade was put forward

as a way to allocate resources more efficiently to sectors where countries had

comparative advantage, but proponents were often not clear as to whether free

trade was an instrument to increase growth and employment or an objective

in itself. In a similar vein, facilitating the free flow of capital, it was argued,

would be instrumental to attracting foreign direct investment but sometimes

without considering macroeconomic risks and limited payoffs.

As globalization progressed, these ideas became more entrenched in mul-

tilateral development banks, within multinational corporations, and among

global financial investors. Warning signs of imbalances in the globalization

framework—increased income inequality, deindustrialization, concentra-

tions of trade and investment flows, skewed sources of greenhouse gases

emissions—were sometimes ignored. The concerns of developing countries were not always addressed by global
institutions tasked with setting the rules

and ensuring their compliance, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

But some of the objectives of globalization are still relevant for the Global

South. These include 1) the need to foster economic growth and create quality

employment with strong social protections, 2) greater export and investment

opportunities, and 3) a transition to cleaner and greener energy sources to ad-

dress climate change and increase energy security. To achieve these objectives,

a business-as-usual approach will not work. The instruments of globalization

will need to be reformed or replaced by new ones. These instruments include

global institutions that are often holdovers from an earlier era, a reorientation

of capital markets towards sustainable financing and investment flows, and

policies that ensure that rapid technological advances and the ongoing digital

transformation are inclusive and equitable.

Rebalancing the objectives and instruments of globalization, therefore, is

essential to devise a pathway that would preserve and build upon the progress

made over the last three decades while confronting the challenges facing the

world today. The analytical framework of this edited volume addresses these

objectives and instruments to arrive at recommendations to rebalance global-

ization from the perspective of the Global South. It is also an attempt to iden-

tify linkages between these instruments and objectives: for example, between

growth and employment on the one hand and sustainable financing and in-
vestment on the other. Similarly, the reform of global institutions—and the

possible creation of new ones—could be an instrument to focus more strongly

on outcomes such as higher growth and employment generation, balanced

trade, and secure supply chains.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the keywords, analysis, and quotes from Asia’s New Geopolitics: Military Power
and Regional Order by C. Rajamohan:

Keywords:

1.​ Geopolitics – The study of the influence of geography (human and physical) on politics, especially
international relations.
2.​ Regional Order – The structure of relationships, power dynamics, and governance within a specific
geographical region.
3.​ Military Power – The ability of a country to project its military force and defend its interests on the
global stage.
4.​ China’s Rise – A focus on China's growing influence in Asia and globally, with implications for
regional and international security.
5.​ Asian Security – Issues of military balance, conflict, and cooperation in the Asian context.
6.​ India’s Strategy – Exploration of India's diplomatic and military strategy in the face of shifting power
dynamics in Asia.
7.​ Multipolarity – A term referring to the distribution of power among multiple strong nations, as
opposed to a unipolar or bipolar world order.

Analysis:

●​ Changing Regional Dynamics: Rajamohan argues that the traditional power structures in Asia are
changing rapidly. As China becomes more assertive, India’s strategic role in the region grows more
important. The United States, with its Indo-Pacific strategy, is also a key player in shaping the
geopolitics of the region.​

●​ Military Power and Deterrence: The book emphasizes how military capabilities are becoming crucial
in the shaping of regional policies. Countries are building their military strength not only for defense
but to establish deterrence against rising powers like China and regional threats.​

●​ China’s Ambitions: Rajamohan discusses China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its efforts to
enhance its geopolitical reach through economic and military means. The growing Sino-Indian
competition is central to understanding the changing balance in Asia.​

●​ India’s Position: Rajamohan highlights India's increasing importance in Asia, both as a rising
military power and as a critical partner for countries seeking to balance China’s influence. India’s
foreign policy is analyzed as seeking to maintain regional stability while strengthening ties with the
 US and its allies.​

Quotes:

1.​ On China’s rise:​

“China’s rise is the central factor in Asia’s shifting geopolitical landscape. Its political and military
assertiveness has already begun to shape the region in profound ways.”​

2.​ On India's role:​

“India’s response to China’s rise has been cautious but strategic. India’s growing defense
capabilities, combined with its position as a regional power, are vital to the evolving Asian order.”​

3.​ On regional stability:​

"The security architecture of Asia will be defined by the balance between military power and
diplomatic engagement. Asia cannot afford instability; the stakes are too high for both regional and
global peace."​

These insights are vital in understanding the evolving geopolitical situation in Asia, as global powers adjust
their strategies in response to China's ascent and India’s growing role in regional security.