{"id":105256,"date":"2021-05-06T09:54:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T04:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=105256"},"modified":"2021-05-06T15:13:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T09:43:01","slug":"impact-of-the-pandemic-on-indias-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/impact-of-the-pandemic-on-indias-foreign-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of the Pandemic on India\u2019s foreign Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Synopsis<\/strong>: The consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic second wave have far-reaching strategic implications on <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/analysis-of-indias-foreign-policy-in-2020\/\">India\u2019s Foreign policy<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><strong>What are the likely impacts on India\u2019s foreign policy?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First, <\/strong>India\u2019s Supremacy at the regional level (in South Asia) will decline in the future.\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s traditional primacy in the region was built on a mix of material aid, political influence, and historical ties.<\/li>\n<li>The Pandemic has reduced India\u2019s ability to materially help its immediate neighborhood for development assistance and political autonomy.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, South Asian states are likely to shift towards China for financial support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second, <\/strong>India\u2019s geopolitical ambitions to become a leading power will be impacted.\n<ul>\n<li>The pandemic could adversely impact India\u2019s ability to contribute to the <strong>Indo-Pacific<\/strong> and <strong>the Quad<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>For instance, <\/strong>COVID-19 will prevent any ambitious military spending or modernization plan.<\/li>\n<li>It further limits the country\u2019s attention on global diplomacy and regional geopolitics.<\/li>\n<li>With reduced military spending and lesser diplomatic attention to regional geopolitics, India\u2019s ability to project power and contribute to the growth of the Quad will be uncertain.<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s inability to take a lead role and China attracting smaller states away from the Indo-Pacific with aid and threats can change the balance of power in favor of China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third, <\/strong>the shift in focus on domestic politics in the coming years by the ruling government will reduce India\u2019s willingness for new foreign policy innovation or initiatives<strong>. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>For instance, <\/strong>Economic distress, a fall in foreign direct investment and industrial production, and a rise in unemployment will compel the center to focus on COVID-19 recovery. This will limit India\u2019s strategic ambitions in global space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fourth<\/strong>, India might become more appeasing towards China. The mismanagement of the second wave has limited India\u2019s ability to stand up against China.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fifth, <\/strong>India\u2019s foreign policy may also become more accommodative, reconciliatory, and cooperative in the neighborhood. (<strong>SAARC nations<\/strong>).\n<ul>\n<li>The Pandemic has forced India to reimagine, the friend-enemy equations in global geopolitics. While the US was hesitant to assist India during the pandemic Pakistan and China offered aid to India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sixth, <\/strong>India\u2019s freedom to pursue Strategic autonomy might be reduced. For instance, a post-COVID-19 India might find it harder to resist demands of a closer military relationship with the U.S.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Seventh, <\/strong>as every crisis opens up the possibility for change, one good outcome will be the opening up of new regional opportunities for cooperation under the <strong><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/importance-of-reviving-saarc\/\">SAARC<\/a> framework.<\/strong><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li>SAARC nations should collectively focus on \u2018regional health multilateralism\u2019 to promote mutual assistance and joint action on health emergencies.<\/li>\n<li>Further, geopolitics should be brought in par with health diplomacy, environmental concerns, and regional connectivity in South Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GA88I6UT9.1&amp;imageview=0\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The consequences of the Covid 19 pandemic second wave have far-reaching strategic implications on India\u2019s Foreign policy. What are the likely impacts on India\u2019s foreign policy? First, India\u2019s Supremacy at the regional level (in South Asia) will decline in the future. India\u2019s traditional primacy in the region was built on a mix of material&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/impact-of-the-pandemic-on-indias-foreign-policy\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Impact of the Pandemic on India\u2019s foreign Policy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,8043,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1333],"class_list":["post-105256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-current-affairs-cat","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-ir_0","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700773665,"cached_date":1704934701},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}