Discuss India’s vision of a New World order in the 21st century.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 “Asian Century” / Indo-Pacific pivot → multipolar order, no fresh hegemon or bipolar bloc → pluralist heritage vs China’s “Middle Kingdom”
Route 2 thesis-first: multipolar + reformist → built on strategic autonomy and multi-alignment → then locate in the “Asian Century”
autonomy + multi-alignment → Jaishankar (inaction → action; engage US/Russia/EU/ASEAN by interest) → Raja Mohan (non-alignment → multi-alignment; power diffuses) → balancer → leading state → UNSC reform / IMEC / I2U2 / Global South / G20 (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) → Bajpaee (bridge West–Global South; reformist, not revisionist)
is it truly multipolar? → Rajagopalan (bipolar US–China; costly illusion) → Acharya (post-Western, multiplex; no single dominant power) → India’s multipolarity = goal as much as description
Route 1 reformist agency → multi-alignment steers a diffusing order toward inclusion → convert flexible autonomy into consistent leadership
Route 2 multipolarity still aspiration as much as fact → India’s task is to realise it → change through inclusion, not disruption
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
