Determinants of Foreign Policy

• 
  Intro: Foreign policy of a country is a statement of what it stands for and the role that it takes upon itself and projects to the world- J N Dixit

• Geography
• Any country’s foreign policy is determined by its geography- Napolean
• Mahan- Mackinder debate
• Himalayas
• Neighbours- statement of ABV
• India’s strategic position in Indian ocean- Mahan
• As a link between central Asia, south east Asia and west Asia-Makinder

• Economy-
• Initially India had five year plans and hence close relationship with USSR
• Dependence on crude oil is major reason for India's look west policy
• Core and periphery by world systems theory
• Strong economy is a prerequisite for a strong military
• Bilateral and multilateral trade deals
• WTO, IMF, world bank policies
• Globalization has increased interdependence
• India has large workforce and raw materials to export, an open FDI policy, good ease of doing business

• Federalism
• Khalistan
• West Bengal teesta issue
• Tamil Nadu- Sri lanka issue
• Nehru said foreign policy is the extension of domestic policy
• Para diplomacy
• Two level game theory by Robert Putnam

• Culture/Diaspora/soft power:
• Soft power- Bollywood , tourism , yoga
• 3 Cr Indian diaspora worldwide
• $80 B comes as remittances which is highest in the world.
• Helps mobilize support for India in local politics as was seen during Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
• high diaspora in west Asia has helped strengthen India’s relations with the countries even after having ideological differences.
• Celebration of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to reconnect with the OCIs.
• Steps India has taken to enhance its soft power:
• Establishing public diplomacy division
• ICCR
• India chair in foreign universities
• Working with pvt sector and NGOs
• Development Partnership Assistance
• India Brand Equity Foundation
• Make in India
• Criticism: Despite rise of India as a global actor, its foreign policy has been lacking coherence and efficacy bcoz of the scarce use of its soft power.

• History-
• Partition —>banquo’s ghost
• colonialism—>hence NAM
• India-china and India-Pak wars—>feeling of security dilemma, mistrust, failure of SAARC

• Social structure-A homogeneous society produces more coherent, and even  aggressive foreign policy

• Think tanks
• Germinating in India
• Resistance from bureaucracy
• Act as pressure group
• Official secrets act prevent access to important documents

• Leadership
• Neo classical realists(classical realism focuses on actor level analysis) like focus on role of leadership.
• India's foreign policy has changed over the years with different people as the PM

• International environment
• Cold War- bipolar world so India adopted non alignment
• In a multi polar world- India is going for multi alignment
• decline of US
• Chinese aggression—>hence Indo-pacific
• instability in West Asia particularly marked by hostility between Iran, Saudi and Iran-Israel
• Brexit

• Realists say that National interests guide a country’s foreign policy.
• While social constructivists focus on role of ideas to guide a foreign policy
• Some ideas that have guided India's foreign policy over the years-
• Non alignment
• Strategic autonomy
• Multilateralism
• Democratisation of international organisations like UN, Bretton Woods
• Nuclear non proliferation and disarmament
• World peace, human security and human rights

• Conclusion: There are various determinants of a foreign policy with their own interests and contradictions. Managing these contradictions among various factors and delivering a coherent policy that is in sync with changing realities of the world order is a challenge in itself and India has all these years stood up to this challenge.