The great convergence and a lag

Synopsis:

India and the US have an expansive new agenda for discussion. This includes not only democracy and human rights, but also Afghanistan, the Indo-Pacific region, reform of global economic institutions, climate change and vaccine diplomacy.

Background:

• The Indian leadership will review US ties this week with the visiting Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden have already agreed on an ambitious agenda for bilateral, regional, and global cooperation between India and the US. 
• That ambition, in turn, is based on the unprecedented convergence of Indian and American national interests. 
• However, the discourse within India’s strategic community continues to be anxious.

India’s Anxiety:

• First, the country is unsure about the US’s approach towards the Kashmir issue. It fears that the US president wants to mediate on Kashmir or the American talk of democracy and human rights may derail Delhi’s relationship with the US.
• Second, there is a contradictory fear over the China issue. On one hand, India is not able to trust the US for extending full support to contain China. On the other hand, the country also worries that the US may be trying to “entrap” India into an alliance.
• Third, as India’s relative weight in the international system continues to grow, it creates much room for giving and taking between India and the US. Yet, a small state syndrome continues to grip the foreign policy elite.
  • For instance, on the economic front, India is now the sixth-largest economy in the world, but there is unending concern about Washington imposing globalisation on Delhi. 
  • Similarly, even as India’s salience for solutions to climate change has increased, Delhi’s debate remains deeply defensive.  

While the government seems quite self-assured in dealing with differences that were traditionally seen as irreconcilable, the gap between Indian policy and discourse still continues.

Reasons behind this gap:

• First, the Indian elite’s entrenched ideological suspicion of the US has been continuing since independence.
  • Successive prime ministers in the last few decades (from Rajiv Gandhi to Narendra Modi) have invested political capital in improving ties with the US. But the suspicion continues in sections of the elite.
• Second, the public debate in India narrowly focuses on bilateral relations. This prevents an assessment of the larger forces shaping American domestic and international politics. That, in turn, limits the new possibilities for the bilateral relationship.
• Third, the problem is reinforced by Delhi’s under-investment in public understanding of American society. Unlike India, Russia and China have put large resources in American studies at their universities and think tanks.

Through the last six months of the Biden presidency, there has been little informed debate in India on the extraordinary policy shifts that are unfolding in Washington.

Policy Shifts in Washington:

• Biden has also joined Trump in questioning America’s uncritical economic globalisation of the past. 
• Trump talked of putting America First, Biden wants to make sure that America’s foreign and economic policies serve the US middle class. As a result, he does not plan to sign any free trade treaties in the near term.
• On the democratic front, Biden recognises that renewing American democracy is the most powerful way of supporting democracies around the world. For this, he has underlined the importance of –
  • Confronting institutional racism within America, 
  • Reducing the mindless gun violence by limiting the constitutional right to bear arms, and 
  • Preventing discrimination on voting rights for minorities. 
• Washington is also witnessing big changes in US foreign policy. The emphasis on rebooting the American economy is driven in part by the perceived need to vigorously compete with China. 
• Biden is also focused on renewing the traditional US alliances to present a united front against China. He is also seeking to overcome Washington’s hostility to Russia by resetting ties with Moscow.

Way Ahead:

A comprehensive discussion and deliberation should take place on an expansive new agenda. It would cover the issue of Afghanistan, the Indo-Pacific region, reform of global economic institutions, climate change and vaccine diplomacy.