India's foreign policy

India entered the 20th century with the desire to find its rightful place in the arena of international politics. The intellectual elite, represented by Tagore , Gandhi and Nehru , deliberately walked away from straightforward interpretations in the theorization of the global status of a particular power. This was due to the fact that at that time India was really weak and was not any impressive force by the standard of realpolitik in this respect. Under these conditions, the elite was forced to seek out the widest audience in their arguments on the future of India and its acquisition of international independence, and, as a result, certain powers. After independence in 1947, JH. Nehru, using the “personal intellectual interest” doctrine he developed, achieved for his country, in the context of the Cold War and bipolar confrontation, his own “international voice”, which was not based on the professionalism of the government institutions of India or on the real capabilities of the state, but rather on extremely successful combining the legitimacy of power and international maneuvering outside the categories of realpolitik ^[1] .

Indian ambitions to achieve the level of the Global Leader have received new development in recent years, when internal transformations have been changing and modernizing the country for more than forty years since the reforms of Nehru. It is safe to say that India is an example of overcoming the “quiet” social revolution, when democracy , and now also economic growth, creates a new political elite, with new aspirations to find India's place on the map of the main players of the World.

Although, compared to previous years, as it may seem strange at first glance, India’s options and field for such a maneuver are very limited. Today, the desire to find only one ephemeral "hyperpower", even if it is acquired, is not enough in the end: in the highly interdependent world that we are seeing now, the standard estimates of the military and economic power of a given state no longer work. They will not be able to sufficiently satisfy India. If India wants to achieve real global influence, more solid international weight, then it is necessary not only to increase its military power and streamline its domestic economy, achieving accelerated GDP growth — it is necessary to base its further success on interdependence with “advanced economies”. Such tactics, chose for themselves the PRC ^[2] .

The end of the Cold War meant the triumph of the West, but, in fact, marked only a new level of "geopolitical anxiety." Europe, trying to be self-sufficient in its “new guise”, is making new and new efforts to build relations other than its closest partner and ally - the United States. The second challenge to this “geopolitical instability” was the collapse of building a pan-Arab national state, which was replaced by hotbeds of Islamic extremism, whose burns are felt by Europe , the USA , Asia and Africa . And finally, the third, and perhaps the most significant factor in the question under consideration is the rise of Asia, and above all the APR, to the role of the “big smithy of the world” with China in the vanguard and India, ready to find itself in a new role for it hegemones of modernity.

Situation Forecast

What vector of development in this situation, India will choose, of course, time will tell; but today we can definitely say that Delhi will never limit itself to any framework, even if it be limited to a “strategic partnership”. Since 60 years after gaining independence from the British crown , this country sees itself as the undisputed leader of all of South Asia , and in the conditions of modern times, the ambitions of the Indian political elite for the global role of this country in the whole volume of the modern political economy of the world are no longer hidden. The human resource, civilization component and, above all, the conditions of globalization actively contribute to the implementation of the project of global domination of India, which I must say, is not a brilliant geopolitical position, if we bear in mind the geographical boundaries of this state.

The Indian subcontinent never left the sphere of interests of Russian diplomacy. The historical course of Moscow on Euro-American coexistence does not contradict the interests of the Russian Federation in South Asia.

Moreover, the two countries have long-standing political, economic and cultural ties. Since the 1960s, the Soviet Union could rightly consider itself the creator of the “new India”: Soviet specialists worked to create the industrial power of this South Asian state and, nowadays, to maintain and develop the status of a powerful regional power again the participation of Soviet diplomacy.

However, until the mid-1950s, the rule of Jawaharlal Nehru was evaluated in the USSR extremely negatively. In reflecting the official point of view of a public lecture given in 1950, it was stated:

As for today's days, India and Russia have developed strong ties in many areas, including the economy and foreign trade, science and technology, culture, defense, space and nuclear energy. The depth of relations, their political and strategic essence are manifested in the unity of approaches to both political and economic problems. Indian investments in the Sakhalin-1 oil project and Russia's help in building a nuclear power plant in Kudankulam in southern India are two concrete examples of successful bilateral energy cooperation ^[4] .

Russia is helping India in the implementation of the space program. These countries have jointly developed and now produce Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles. There are other examples of successful Indian-Russian interaction. India is proud that it accounts for part of the heritage of Nicholas and Svyatoslav Roerich . As a contribution to strengthening bilateral cultural ties, India in 2002 allocated a significant amount of money to clean up and preserve Roerich manors in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka . “We hope that our efforts to preserve these historical ties will become a symbol of cultural relations between India and Russia. They will be reflected in many new projects, the purpose of which is to perpetuate our joint cultural heritage ” ^[5] .

And although the 1990s were marked by a certain distance of Russia from the political situation in South Asia, recent years have been talking about building up and restoring the former level of international partnership. Moreover, the thesis on the strategic partnership of Soviet Russia, India and China was put forward by a famous historical figure already in the 1920s of the last century. Officially, the strategic triangle " Moscow - Beijing - Delhi " has been decided not to spread. But one way or another, many politicians and the media in these countries and not only lead a discussion about it. Many agree that the intensification of trilateral cooperation will contribute to the creation of a multipolar world. However, plans to create such a “triangle” (led by the United States ) exist in the United States Department of State , where India is viewed as a potential counterweight to the ever-increasing role of the PRC in the modern world ^[2] .

On October 5, 2018, the Russian Federation and India signed a contract for the supply of S -400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems to India ^[6] . The amount of the transaction exceeds $ 5 billion ^[7] .

== American-Indian Relations

Bilateral relations between Bhutan and India have traditionally been close. Since independence in 1947 , India inherited suzerainty over Bhutan from the British Empire . Although much has changed since then, India still has an impact on Bhutan’s foreign policy, defense and trade.

India has been and remains Bhutan’s main partner in economics, politics, cultural exchange. India accounts for the overwhelming share of foreign trade operations ^[8] . Residents of India can visit Bhutan almost without restrictions, which is much more difficult for residents of other countries. Bhutanese often visit India - for study, treatment, pilgrimage, business. Many Bhutanese graduated from Indian universities. India supports Bhutan militarily.

However, Bhutan treats India with some caution, fearing for its sovereignty and cultural identity ^[8] .

• Look East Policy
• Indian-maldivian relations
• Indian-Nepalese relationship
• Indo-North Korean relations
• Indo-Sri Lankan relations

• India pulls the "Chinese tiger" by the mustache and threatens to "tear the jaw" to Pakistan // Svobodnaya Pressa , 30 Nov 2016

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