India’s foreign policy since 1947-2014: Priorities and Challenges

Abstract

This article will provide the reader a detailed analysis of India’s Foreign Policy since the year 1947 to 2014. The paper will also try to break down the cardinal reasons for the different shifts in policy that occurred over time. For this, it has been divided into three different sections according to the key leadership and broad geopolitical changes that world have witnessed till date. The first section deals with the important exchange of foreign affairs from 1947 to 1962, the second from 1962 to 1991, and the third from 1991 to 2014. The first section constructively deals with after-Independence scenarios, relations and approach of India with foreign countries under the leadership of First democratically elected Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The second section deals with Sino-Indian war of 1962, foreign relations of India under Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi and Cold War. The third section begins with end of Cold war, liberalisation and India’s shift in its policies due to sanction after Pokhran II.

The Beginning

India gained its independence in 1947 with Lord Mountbatten becoming the first Governor-general of India and Jawaharlal Nehru as Head of Government. Soon India saw the rise of new leadership in name of Jawaharlal Nehru and became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Independent India after 1951 General Elections. He also held the post of Minister of External affairs and commonwealth relations and it was only after his death in 1964 that a separate minister with cabinet rank was appointed. He was India's longest-serving prime minister for almost 16 years and 286 days. No one on Indian side had experience with foreign affairs until 1925 when Indian National Congress made a foreign department to deal with foreign relations and take Independence movement abroad. Nehru alone was not to be responsible for shaping India’s foreign policy, his closest comrade Krishna Menon who was regarded as second most powerful man in India aided Nehru. He was also a member of British Labour Party and was instrumental in campaigning for India’s freedom abroad. He helped formulate some major decisions. (Brecher, 1967)

After the World War II, Major shift in world Geopolitics was seen. The countries were facing the onset of Cold War where they had to either support West bloc led by United States and Britain or East bloc led by USSR. Nehru led an initiative to form Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in which initially three countries signed the declaration i.e. Yugoslavia, India and Egypt with a motive to safeguard the interests of third world and developing countries who had achieved Independence after WW II. This policy on the idea of non-involvement and non-entanglement became the corner stone of independent India’s foreign policy. In coming years several countries joined the movement discarding their support to either of two blocs, at current there are around 120 members and represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members.

After Independence India’s relations with US was severed which Nehru tried to maintain but due to several changes of events of India’s support of Communist china to UN and Non- attending the Japanese Peace treaty of 1951 which enraged the western bloc resulted in their support of military supplies to Pakistan and on other hand pleased USSR which resulted in more friendly relations with India. India also rejected the American suggestion to resolve the Kashmir conflict via third party mediation.

 

International Image

India’s approach to NAM was recognized as an energetic Indian diplomacy but later on for some years India’s presence on the world stage was bit contracted but the 1962 Indo-china war brought an end to this. These were the years when Nehru idealism came crumbling down and India lost the war. The government felt the need of a very strong and self-reliant foreign policy that could strengthen its position in world. India now started looking beyond non-alignment in the interests of national security. Much before the 1962 war, India managed to secure a military aid package of $500 million from United States but was shelved due to assassination of President John F Kennedy (Riedel, 2015).  However, in 1971, When US came to the aid of Pakistan in a conflict with India in East Pakistan, Soviets sensed this as an opportunity to expand their influence in the subcontinent and India abandoned its policy of non-alignment and signed a defence treaty with the Soviet Union, a development that was also influenced by the socialist leanings of India’s early leaders. The Soviet Union in turn used its veto power in the UNSC and defended India against three resolutions condemning India’s role in what came to be known as the Bangladesh War. In following years India carried out its first ever nuclear test- Pokhran I, with a code name Smiling Buddha in 1974. In result, India faced numerous sanctions from US and other countries in form of restrictions on Aid that India used to get from those countries. By then India’s relations with Soviet Union grew gradually and the period from 1965 to 1977 is said to be regarded as ‘Golden Age’ of Indo-Soviet relations. (lashkar, 2013) After Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, India was only South-Asian country to officially recognize the soviet backed government. In an efforts to evict soviet out of Afghanistan the US came to rely heavily on Pakistan. Pakistan took billions of dollars in a move to support US in Afghanistan for its logistical and military support.

 

Cold war

With the end of cold war the difference between the relations of India and US began to decrease slowly mainly because both of them had their own new problems arising and that their mutual understanding could only help each other. As with the case of India, it was stumbling with its economic crisis and the government were collapsing in quick succession whereas US was trying to make their presence and influence on ground in South Asia after the end of cold war. India launched its ambitious Economic Liberalization program which attracted and facilitated opportunities to lots of American businesses resulting into stronger ties between the private sectors of both countries.

India again led a nuclear test in 1998, named Pokhran II, which drew a sharp attention of the US and world towards South Asia, followed by a broad range of restriction by US that led to a temporary obstruction in the thawing Indo-U.S. relations. On the contrary Businesses between the two countries hampered a little but kept growing otherwise. From 1991 to 2018, trade in goods and services between the two countries grew duodecimal to $142 billion. (representative, 2019)

In year 2001 President George W. Bush waived sanctions on India but was still under nuclear isolation by superpowers of the world. It eventually came to an end after Bush Administration took an attempt to cement the relationship by offering civilian nuclear deal to India in 2006. (Ganguly & Mistry, 2006)  

Pakistan tried to revive the Kashmir issue through its incursion in Kargil region that led to a limited war in 1999 which India ultimately thawed with its remarkable restraint and brilliant diplomacy at International arena. After December 2001 parliament attack, India was resorted to take enforced diplomacy with Pakistan but later with American intervention, another possibility of war was averted.

India saw very gradual change in its foreign policy after 1991 economic liberalization. It opened the doors of relations with many countries with backdrop of business in India. Its relations with Russia was mostly limited to Military Trade being the largest arms supplier to India which recently have been overtaken by United States. India’s trade with china also grew moderately with India importing 3% of total Chinese export till date. (Workman, 2020)

In consecutive years India kept modifying its policy with the relevant changes in structure of International system and policies of other countries. India still holds a room for its policymakers to respond to these changes and to make India a potential global superpower for which it still has a long way to go.

 

 

Bibliography

Brecher, M. (1967). Elite Images and Foreign Policy Choices: Krishna Menon's View of the World. Pacific Affairs, 60-92.

Ganguly, S., & Mistry, D. (2006). The Indo-US Nuclear Accord: A Good Deal. 375-378.

lashkar, R. K. (2013). India's Foreign Policy: An Introduction. Pragun Publication.

representative, O. o. (2019, August 15). US-India Bilateral Trade and investment. Retrieved from https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/south-central-asia/india

Riedel, B. (2015). JFK’s Forgotten Crisis. HarperCollins.

Workman, D. (2020, March 20). China’s Top 10 Exports. Retrieved from World's Top Exports: http://www.worldstopexports.com/chinas-top-10-imports/