{"id":195620,"date":"2022-07-14T17:30:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=195620"},"modified":"2022-07-14T17:30:23","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T12:00:23","slug":"in-diversity-of-candidates-for-uks-next-pm-a-soft-power-lesson-for-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/in-diversity-of-candidates-for-uks-next-pm-a-soft-power-lesson-for-india\/","title":{"rendered":"In diversity of candidates for UK\u2019s next PM, a soft power lesson for India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on an article \u201cUK\u2019s next PM, a soft power lesson for India\u201d published in the Indian Express on 14th<\/sup> July 2022.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS2 – International Relations<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: Soft Power, Importance of Indian Diaspora<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: At more than half of the contenders<\/strong> (Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak<\/strong> and others) racing to become the leader of the Conservative Party<\/strong> and Prime Minister of the UK<\/strong>, are from immigrant, non-white, and ethnic minority community. It opens up a possibility that the next British PM may be brown or black.<\/p>\n

Important personalities with Indian roots in the western countries <\/strong><\/h5>\n

(A) Political leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) The US: Barak Obama<\/strong> who was elected as the first black President <\/strong>of the United States was born to a Kenyan father. Further, Kamala Harris<\/strong> who was appointed as the first black and woman Vice-President of the United States was born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father.<\/p>\n

(2) In addition to above, Leo Varadkar,<\/strong> whose father is Indian, became the Prime Minister of Ireland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

(3) There are several senior members<\/strong> of the UK government who do not belong to the white community.<\/p>\n

Others<\/strong><\/h5>\n

There are several black<\/strong> and brown people<\/strong> who have gained prominence<\/strong> in sports, media, arts, medicine, and to a lesser extent in business, in the UK. For example, Nasser Hussain<\/strong> who captained the English cricket team as far back as 1999 was born to a Tamil Muslim father in Chennai.<\/p>\n

What is the significant change in the western countries, particularly Britain, in terms of soft power?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There has been maturing of the British public\u2019s views <\/strong>on race<\/strong>, religion<\/strong>, and even nationality.<\/strong> There is an increasingly relaxed attitude<\/strong> towards the identity of the contenders<\/strong>. Therefore, it has redefined itself as an inclusive<\/strong> and multicultural socie<\/strong>ty over the past two decades. For example,<\/p>\n

(1) The British political classes, media<\/strong>, and public<\/strong> at large, do not mind to embrace a non-white, non-native as the head of the UK Government.<\/p>\n

(2) In addition, there is virtually no discussion on the faith or religion of the contenders. For example, most of the runners and riders belong to a Hindu, a practising Buddhist with Hindu-Catholic roots, etc.<\/p>\n

The ongoing developme<\/strong>nt has emerged as a key source<\/strong> of the UK\u2019s soft power<\/strong>. This will give the small island global influence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons behind such development?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

British universities have attracted the brightest mind<\/strong> from around the world. Further, they are now working in the corridors of multinational companies<\/strong> and global institutions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

English<\/strong> has become the lingua franca of the world<\/strong>, relative to other languages such as French or German. It has absorbed<\/strong> and transformed words<\/strong> and usage from other languages across the world.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges in front of India?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Indian society has been open and accommodative<\/strong> to multiple faiths<\/strong> and traditions,<\/strong> and has remained peaceful in nature.<\/p>\n

This dimension has badly eroded over the past decade as the world due to various incidents in India. For example, right-wing movement<\/p>\n

India\u2019s soft power is being degraded in the context of the growing threat<\/strong> from China<\/strong> in our neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/strong><\/h5>\n

India\u2019s global moral<\/strong> and cultural influence<\/strong> is perhaps the only dimension of power where we vastly outperform our northern neighbour. For example, there are a number of Indian-origin CEOs of leading Western companies.<\/p>\n

India should not move from its heritage of inclusiveness <\/strong>towards a narrow, religio-cultural nationalism<\/strong>. India should learn from Britain\u2019s shift towards multifaceted identity<\/strong> having global advantage.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on an article \u201cUK\u2019s next PM, a soft power lesson for India\u201d published in the Indian Express on 14th July 2022. Syllabus: GS2 – International Relations Relevance: Soft Power, Importance of Indian Diaspora News: At more than half of the contenders (Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak and others) racing to become… Continue reading In diversity of candidates for UK\u2019s next PM, a soft power lesson for India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-195620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704848332},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195620","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\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}