Institutions of Foreign Policy Making

Intro:
J N Dixit: 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.

Main drafter on Indian foreign policy particularly the Cabinet committee on security
Initially Nehru unilaterally formulated India’s foreign policy rather than actually involving the Cabinet
Due to coalition politics use of cabinet members especially of coalition partners has become crucial
Cabinet integrates issues such as trade and commerce, security into a coherent foreign policy strategy

Can keep checking vote of no confidence
Through Parliamentary committee on external affairs
After Beru Bari union case Supreme Court said that India needs to pass Constitutional amendment if India gives away any territory—> 100th AA related to exchange of conclaves
Crucial treaties and international agreements need Parliamentary approval. For example Indo US nuclear deal
The grants given by MEA to different nations via budget has to be passed by Parliament

Role of track 2 dialogues improved
Interest groups like CII, FICCI became more significant
Dairy lobby was highly opposed to RCEP due to cheap dairy products from Australia and New Zealand

Nodal Ministry
India has one of the smallest diplomatic corps, almost equivalent to Singapore. In the words of Shashi Tharoor- India is punching below its weight
Pillai Committee Recommendation

Increasing size of diplomatic corps
Coordination of MEA with other ministries must be enhanced
Professional training inadequate
Lateral entry for highly specialized fields like climate change,nuclear disarmament

Neoclassical realists such as Zakaria (1998: 42) contend that statesmen are the principal actors and that their perceptions are crucial.
in India's case the PMO has been a proactive player in foreign policy making
In recent times has become the centre of gravity in terms of foreign policy formulation
Has particularly gained importance during times of prime minister is like Nehru, Gandhi, Bajpai, PM Modi
Nehru—> panchsheel and NAM
Modi- Act east, indo pacific, act west,etc
Personal relations with leaders like Netanyahu, Putin, etc
MEA as the line ministry although still functions as the implementing body but PMO takes authoritarive decisions like hosting of events like “howdy modi” , “Namaste Trump” , “Wuhan informal summit”,etc
The annual dialogues between PM and other state’s representatives and summit diplomacy has created even more space for PMO post LPG era

The official secrets act, lack of systematic timeline for the classifying diplomatic archives and every day reluctance of bureaucrats to talk candidly to researchers leads to lack of reliable information about policy
This naturally affects the accuracy and quality of policy research that these think tanks undertake even when equipped with quality researchers
Lack of adequate funding
Since the leadership is primarily comprised of former bureaucrats with a reputational speak in existing policy, their conclusions will tend to be prejudiced in the favour of status quo
Ex- ORF,IDSA,Gateway house

Class Notes 4 You