What are the objectives of India’s foreign policy? Explain the different approaches.

India’s Foreign Policy: Objectives and Principles: The goals and objectives have to be clearly specified in any task undertaken.

Likewise, the foreign policy of any country is a major activity that builds a nation or kills a nation. Hence, the goals and objectives of India’s foreign policy have to be clear, specific and productive. The goals and objectives have been tested, verified, weighed by experts and professional.

India has always been a nation that gives priority to world peace. Since it was under Britishers, colonial rule and struggles greatly for independence. India knows the worth of freedom. Hence it doesn’t want to lose that hard-gained independence in the hands of another foreign element. Therefore India’s foreign policy’s main objective or goal is to safeguard its national interest, internal and external security. It is more concerned about protecting India from the threat of enemies who might show their military strength. 

India’s views on safeguarding security is not only instructed to a country but it wants the whole world be protected against threats like yet another World War. In the bargain, it does not want other countries to view India as a threat to them just because we keep tightening our security. India wants to have cordial relations with all the countries of the world and it keeps sending peace messages to its neighbouring countries to establish that it looks for a cordial relationship between them.

Even with countries that have different ideologies and political set up, they expect to have smooth working relations. The next most important goal of the Indian foreign policy is to fight against colonization. It is very evident from the fact that India has been a victim of colonization under the Britishers, hence, it does not want it sufferings experienced by any other country.

So it fought against colonization and for its abolishment in countries like Asia and Africa where colonization was prevalent. India also stood for the right to equality for all Indians settled in other parts of the world. It fought against apartheid in South Africa and was against differentiating people on the basis of their colour and race. It fought for equality of the people and was opposed to discrimination.

India wanted to work for the upliftment of economically weak and backward third world countries. This was the third goal or objective of India’s foreign policy. It needed the help of the developed rich countries to supply the poor countries, hence its agenda was to have a healthy relationship that would help India to secure the benefits. India wanted to bridge the economic inequalities of the third world countries and the developed superpowers. This was their main goal in addition to its own economic growth and development. The above-mentioned goals or objectives of India’s foreign policy are strengthened by various principles which help them to achieve the goals.

From time immemorial India was never among such nations which were interested in fights or war. This tradition is still followed in modern India too where India tries to resolve all differences arising between the other countries through peaceful methods. Whether it is friction between India and Pakistan or India and China. India prefers to sit across the table and sort out the issues and believe fights or wars are not the solution for it. India has always been a law abider and naturally, it supported that it would definitely be a source to settle all the disputes which are international in nature.

There are various other international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN) and other domestic organization which includes members from all the countries. They work for world peace and harmony and India supports such organizations. India is totally against those countries which post-war threat by strengthening their nuclear power, arms and ammunition which may lead to erosion of mankind in the world.

Panchsheel agreement includes all the ingredients of India’s foreign policy. It is a known fact that India insists on harmony and peace among the countries in the world by not being aggressive towards other nations and not interfering in their internal issues.

India wants to grow in a positive way spreading the message of peace across the world. Through its foreign policy, it is obvious that it wants to be known as a law-abiding nation that wants to be cordial and gain a bit through its good conduct! Realism has a great influence on the strategic community of India. In the perception of political realism, the term power is the foundation to inter-state relations. It is not evenly spread because every state is more selfish in fulfilling its interests and needs. The Indian realist with regard to foreign policy considered China as the real and prospective enemy or competitor for India. 

This was very true when the India-China conflict occurred in 1962 and they were considered as bitterest enemies who can never have a cordial relationship. China was always a topic of discussion where there is diplomatic talks between the United States and India. The Kashmir issue was the basis for strain in the relationship between India and Pakistan. China grew to be a strong power in military and economy and this was always a threat to Asian security.

India was huge in terms of its geographical area, population, skilled professionals, Gross National Product etc. Its defence power has all state-of-art equipment and it was well equipped and strong. Before India conducted its nuclear equipment in 1998 the politicians through their propaganda passed the message across that China is the first threat to India.

This is also a part of realist thinking. Indian realists did not refuse the probable chance of future friendship between India and China when they are real super powers. In order to keep a check on the Chinese threat, India was showcased as a mighty power nuclear strength was demonstrated.

Having relation with Pakistan is really time-consuming and energy-consuming for Indian foreign policy planners. To add fuel to fire the China-Pakistan bond irritated India. In addition, Pakistan became a member of the Western alliance. United States plans to exploit the natural gas and minerals in Central Asia by setting foot in Pakistan. 

Realists view that China helps Pakistan a great deal with arms and ammunition to help the later be equal to India’s military strength. Whatever said and done is no way closer to India has a huge geographical area, population, skilled men, Gross National Product when compared to Pakistan. It is also viewed that Pakistan is responsible for many of the domestic conflicts of India which hinders our peace. In the Realist approaches to India’s foreign policy the ‘strategic community of India consisted of six groups namely the military, the diplomats, bureaucrats, aristrocrats, experts from the field of media and educationists, members from the field of science and technology.

Whereas in the Independent approach the actors are from Non-Government Organizations, NGOs and from International Financial Agencies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. They are from both the domestic and international agencies. In the realistic approach prime importance was given to the external national security and internal national unity.

In the interdependence approach to the study of India foreign policy there are other issues like environmental degradation, issues regarding illegal migration, illegal financing, piracy of electronic accessories, etc. are given importance in addition to national safety and security.

Interdependence given priority to international relations especially after cold war and it concentrates of combining economies.  But realists are bothered more about security than taking into consideration the growing social and economic gap between the developed and developing nations.

The inter-dependence approach gave importance to the concept of economic globalization. This means that new international financial and trade institutions were established. This was not the case in the realistic approach, where the economic aspect was not given due importance. The realist goal was to attain regional pre-eminence but the inter-dependence approaches goal was to focus on economic cooperation. Hence the realistic approach is definitely an approach which is more modern in its views and perception.

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