Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 8

Tone Shift: India’s Dominant Foreign Policy Aims Under Modi
India. Swift claims of a “Modi Doctrine”
abounded, 1 as did assertions by
leading scholars of a very clear change
in India’s foreign policy inclinations. 2
At the very least, observers noted that
“the difference between Modi and his
predecessors is a matter of energy and
style,” 3 which would produce clear
changes concerning how India’s ruling
party would approach, perform, and
delineate its governance.
The 1998–2004 BJP-led NDA
had inculcated significant developments
in the conduct of Indian foreign
policy, most conspicuously the substantial
deepening of India’s relations with
the United States, as well as with China,
primarily through the 1998 nuclear
tests that propelled India back into
the international mainstream. 4 Then
Prime Minister Vajpayee also emboldened
India’s gradual embrace of liberal
economics and an appreciation of
some of the virtues of globalization, 5
particularly as the means by which to
strengthen and legitimize India’s status
within the international system. More
than anything else, it was greater pragmatism,
self-confidence, and assertiveness,
and an acceptance of the efficacy
of pre-emptive engagement, that fundamentally
characterized the BJP’s implementation
of policy during the first
NDA, as did frequently stressing India’s
aspirations to be a great power. 6
Concerning foreign affairs, the
BJP’s 2014 election manifesto stated
“the vision is to fundamentally reboot
and reorient the foreign policy goals,
content and process, in a manner that
locates India’s global strategic engagement
in a new paradigm.” 7 This article
seeks to interrogate whether or not
such a profound shift is currently taking
place, by identifying and analyzing
the key aims orienting Indian foreign
policy under Modi. Realizing this goal
is achieved through the application
of a constructivist-centered and discourse-oriented
approach in order to
evidence the preponderance of these
key aims in both official documents
and existing scholarly perspectives, and
hence their established normative presence
within the policy proclivities of
the present NDA government. Such an
analysis is developed through four main
sections. The first section introduces
the article’s theoretical foundations, primarily
the efficacy of the constructivist
approach which is able to provide a focused
means of analysis that highlights
policy preferences specific to the Indian
context. This approach is coupled with
an emphasis on discourse as the vehicle
with which to identify these dominant
aims. The subsequent sections then utilize
this largely norms-based approach
to examine the three key aims of Indian
foreign policy under Modi, which are
specifically; gaining great power recognition;
realizing a multipolar world order;
and enacting the “Act East” policy.
Theoretical Lens and
the Use of Discourse
Mainstream International Relations
(IR) theory offers several approaches
with which to analyze the foreign
policy of states. Of these, realism
stands out at the most pervasive method
through its emphasis upon how
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