{"id":34863,"date":"2018-10-31T14:12:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T08:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34863"},"modified":"2018-10-31T14:12:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T08:42:27","slug":"debunking-myths-about-indias-multilateralism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/debunking-myths-about-indias-multilateralism\/","title":{"rendered":"Debunking myths about India\u2019s multilateralism:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livemint.com\/Opinion\/KUenmyNMJOdo5yms24lArJ\/Debunking-myths-about-Indias-multilateralism.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Debunking myths about India\u2019s multilateralism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The article discusses the issues that prevent India from understanding what considerations influence India\u2019s diplomacy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Annual UN General Assembly and India\u2019s diplomacy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The international community\u2019s attention focuses on New York for the annual UN General Assembly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Indian delegation is sizeable, not least in its agenda.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Besides meeting with leaders from 20 states, Indian officials are participating in discussions on UN reform, counter-terrorism, climate change, human rights and peacekeeping.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The annual event also gives us an opportunity to audit and clear up some longstanding myths that cloud our thinking and judgment on India\u2019s multilateral diplomacy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These myths propagate perceptions that have outlived their utility.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such views prevent us from better understanding what considerations influence India\u2019s multilateral diplomacy, how her behaviour, influenced by strategic considerations, has changed over the years, and why it is important to view India\u2019s multilateral positions in the context of the country\u2019s economic trajectory.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>India as a multilateral naysayer<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is regarded as a \u201cnaysayer\u201d while negotiating international rules and while interacting on multilateral issues like climate change, nuclear proliferation, trade, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By identifying India as a multilateral naysayer, India has either blocked multilateral efforts from going forward, refused to accede to rules that others have agreed to or has blocked multilateral negotiations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defensiveness has restrained India\u2019s potential and multilateral ambitions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost all states enter multilateral settings with a set of concerns they hope to secure without conceding much in return.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Negotiations are characterized by attrition where compromises and breakthroughs are made on the margins.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Ideas shape India\u2019s multilateral postures <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A myth is that ideas and ideologies shape India\u2019s multilateral postures. Interests are lost in the picture.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s multilateral interventions at the UN were shaped by the political currents of the time, particularly decolonization and the desire for autonomy in foreign policy and development.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growth has generated convergence in some areas, like trade, public health, intellectual property rights, and increasingly on issues like climate change.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has pushed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade\/World Trade Organization to liberalize tariffs in industries like services and agriculture where Indian firms have a competitive advantage.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the World Health Organization, India endorsed a strong set of rules to curb rising tobacco use worldwide, having seen the raging effects of tobacco consumption at home.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Multilateralism and power politics<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We focus more on big-ticket multilateral issues, like nuclear proliferation and arms control, international trade, climate change, and the UN Security Council.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These issues matter and India\u2019s ability to deftly manage them redounds to her position in the international system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multilateralism is more prosaic and defined by incremental advances made within international organizations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has negotiated international rules covering issues like tobacco control, desertification, food security and agriculture, labour, disability rights, and refugee rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s positions on such issues are also influenced by other ministries (health, agriculture, environment, commerce, etc) which have different interests and priorities from diplomats from the ministry of external affairs (MEA).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Institutions affect India\u2019s multilateral postures.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Need for pragmatism in India\u2019s multilateral diplomacy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pragmatism imply being more amenable to cooperating with other states and international organizations, adopting progressive and collectively minded stances on issues like climate change and nuclear proliferation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cooperation becomes Trojan horse to nudge India to accept commitments that may not be in the national interest.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evidence suggests that India has been pragmatic in its multilateral interventions since the 1980s to advance and defend its core interests through multilateral engagement, resist or abstain from international rules when necessary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India needs to be open and willing to proactively shape and ratify the rules where national and global interests converge.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Debunking myths about India\u2019s multilateralism:\u00a0 Context The article discusses the issues that prevent India from understanding what considerations influence India\u2019s diplomacy. Annual UN General Assembly and India\u2019s diplomacy The international community\u2019s attention focuses on New York for the annual UN General Assembly. The Indian delegation is sizeable, not least in its agenda. Besides meeting with&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/debunking-myths-about-indias-multilateralism\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Debunking myths about India\u2019s multilateralism:\u00a0<\/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":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704801853},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34863","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=34863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}