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.
Also asked on this head
Recent Developments in Indian Foreign Policy — 18 questions in the Vault.
- India’s reluctance to perceive any ‘existential threat’ inevitably made the multilateral path to nuclear security a ‘default option until it decided to cross the nuclear Rubicon...
- India continues to invoke its time-tested policy of strategic autonomy vis-a-vis both the United States of America and Russia by rejecting US’ offer of mediation on...
- Critically examine the continuity and change in India’s Palestine policy in the wake of the ongoing Israel- Hamas War.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.