PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Recent Developments in Foreign Policy — Part 2
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 Kashmir issue and by refusing to criticize Russia in its ongoing war against Ukraine. Comment.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
RD two refusals = one doctrine — Jaishankar’s “choice of action” (3 “time-tested” * static — non-alignment — multi-alignment (Raja Mohan) — issue-based, not ideological (Gokhale)
Body flow
Kashmir: Simla 1972 bilateralism — Trump’s May 2025 mediation declined, US role unacknowledged — Quad/defence ties still deepen — Ukraine: non-interference pillar (Galwan / Crimea 2014 / Ukraine 2022) — Western sanctions — discounted oil, 2nd- largest buyer, ~600% trade — Pant: sharpest test + structural room from US-China rivalry
Counter-view
Tellis: refusal to choose undermines security — pick Washington vs China — Jacob’s rejoinder: “what is the alternative?” but energy/manufacturing/defence dependence caps autonomy — 2025 50% tariffs as the live test
Conclusion routes
ERI autonomy = deliberate action, not passive neutrality (3 real agency, but exercised within structural limits, not above them
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
