{"id":35314,"date":"2018-10-31T16:21:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T10:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=35314"},"modified":"2018-10-31T16:21:47","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T10:51:47","slug":"rearranging-the-brics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/rearranging-the-brics\/","title":{"rendered":"Rearranging the BRICS:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/raja-mandala-rearranging-the-brics-rics-summit-2017-brics-xiamen-narendra-modi-india-china-4828862\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rearranging the BRICS<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The forum is less about ideological posturing, more about repositioning India in changing great power equations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India and neighbors<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Raja Mandala: Rearranging the BRICS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building a multipolar world is one of the central themes of India\u2019s foreign policy and BRICS has been the main forum for the pursuit of that objective. But China\u2019s rapid rise has compelled India to rethink the need and virtues of multipolar world<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Why is China a problem for India?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">China has encroached into and reduced India\u2019s space in the Subcontinent and also in the India Ocean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has become a lot more insistent and dominant in the bilateral disputes with India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS as a whole is been working towards the construction of a \u201cmultipolar world\u201d, which for long, was the code word for hedging against American unilateralism.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But now with China\u2019s rising dominance in the world map and with its bullish attitude towards India; construction of \u201cmultipolar Asia\u201d or \u201cbalancing China\u201d is turning out to be equally important.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the historical background?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the Cold War, India faced a twin challenge \u2013 (i) the collapse of the Soviet Union and (ii) re-engaging of India with the United States and the West in order to adapt to the globalizing world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But at the same time, India was apprehensive about the West\u2019s interventionist policies especially on issues like \u2013 human rights, Kashmir and nuclear non-proliferation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be able to bear the brunt of negative impact of its fall out from the unipolar world, India chose to attach itself with Russia\u2019s banner for a great \u201cstrategic triangle\u201d of eastern powers, involving Russia, China and India, to resist America\u2019s growing power in the post-Cold War world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This pairing up on part of India, caused serious tension in its engagement with the great American powers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian leaders would stand up in Washington and talk of a \u201cnatural alliance\u201d with the sole super power, America. At the same time, India would sit down with Russia and China to call for a \u201cmultipolar world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than the evident hypocrisy, the problem was about managing multiple contradictions that India was facing with post-Cold War.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The strategic triangle involving India, China and Russia eventually expanded into the BRICS with the inclusion of Brazil and South Africa.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What were the challenges faced by India owing to its engagement in BRICS?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As two more countries, joined the forum, the internal environment within the BRICS changed, but the external environment altered the dynamics of the BRICS nation within itself and also with the world and posed a lot many challenges for India.<\/li>\n<li>The rise of China dramatically altered the orientation of the BRICS. China\u2019s massive economic weight in the forum \u2014 its GDP is now more than twice that of the other four members put together.<\/li>\n<li>Thus, the internal balance in the BRICS has changed in favour of Beijing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>For Russia, BRICS was a way of creating political leverage against the United States and the West, but China saw it as an instrument to expand China\u2019s own global economic influence.<\/li>\n<li>The apprehension towards the US led-globalization was one of the major factor for India to vouch for multipolar world, but now its struggling to come in terms with the China led-globalization.<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative, which has become the main vehicle for China\u2019s economic power projection, has added to India\u2019s concerns about China\u2019s rise.<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s engagement in BRICS and its simultaneous deepening strategic partnership with the United States and Japan looked like a friendly peace-preferring gesture from India, till there was no major tensions between the great powers \u2013 US, Russia, China and Japan.<\/li>\n<li>It has become difficult for India to maintain its \u201cmulti-alignment\u201d as the great power harmony was followed by renewed tensions between them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">What has been India\u2019s strategy towards the issue?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past, India preferred BRICS over the partnership with the West.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At current, it is more inclined towards judging issues by their magnitude and implications for India\u2019s national interest rather than following a presumed ideological correctness and thereby not choosing a side and maintaining a dynamic stand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the warmth between Russia and China and both the countries willingness to cut deals with the US on their own terms, India\u2019s concern is now less towards ideological posturing and more about repositioning its position in changing great power equations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What does this changing scenario imply for India?<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India will have to stand up and also stand against (if required) China where necessary and at the same time, cooperate with it wherever possible.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has to rescue its long-standing partnership with Russia but should also remain aware that Russia has its own imperatives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>It also has to continue deepening strategic ties with the United States but at the same time acknowledge America\u2019s sharp internal divisions.<\/li>\n<li>India also has to gear itself to be prepared to face or undergo compulsions to arrive at compromises with a rising China.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, it\u2019s a transition time for India where it is altering its worldview towards unsentimental realism.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rearranging the BRICS:\u00a0 The forum is less about ideological posturing, more about repositioning India in changing great power equations. India and neighbors Raja Mandala: Rearranging the BRICS Context Building a multipolar world is one of the central themes of India\u2019s foreign policy and BRICS has been the main forum for the pursuit of that objective.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/rearranging-the-brics\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Rearranging the BRICS:\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-35314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704701552},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35314","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=35314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}