Role of business in India’s foreign policy

The paper examines if the business sector in India has had a tangible influence on India’s foreign policy. It suggests several factors for which private business failed to have any influence on India’s foreign policy during the first three decades after Independence. It suggests a conceptual typology of the principal drivers of India’s foreign policy, which, according to the author, provides an effective framework for understanding the role of the private sector since it began to wield some influence in the mid-1980s. The paper uses this threefold classification to argue that, in the period from the 1980s to today, contrary to the general perception, the role of the Indian business sector (and especially of industry associations) on India’s foreign policy has been marginal and restricted to some specific sectors.     

The public opinion–foreign policy paradox in Germany: integrating domestic and international levels of analysis conditionally

Abstract

Does public opinion influence foreign policy? International relations theory is divided on whether foreign policy outputs follow public opinion in advanced democratic countries. Using the case of cold war and post-cold war Germany, I offer an integrated realist theory of the effect of public opinion on foreign policy. I test the theory and the generalizability of the hypothesis of a public opinion–foreign policy nexus using process tracing as well as a time series analysis between the years 1973 and 2002. Using new measures, results here contradict literature on expected public opinion and policy outputs in the cold war period yet are supported after. I find that the predicted effect of public opinion on foreign policy outputs to be confounded by such factors as security threats.     

China’s rise as a strategic challenge and opportunity: India’s China discourse and strategy

The simultaneous rise of China and India is one of the most important developments in contemporary world politics. Given their steadily growing power and aspirations and China’s more assertive posture in Asia, the management of China’s rise is one of the major challenges for India’s foreign policy. However, India is often said to have no guiding strategic framework for its China policy, which is seen as incoherent and reactive. This article, by contrast, shows that India has an evolving China strategy and that the alleged inconsistencies in India’s China policy are rather the result of an ambivalent image of China. Drawing on constructivism and discourse analysis, the article identifies the dominant perception of China in India’s foreign policy discourse and the resulting foreign policy strategy. In a next step, the article analyzes the China policy of the Congress-led UPA Government and investigates whether it conforms to the strategic policy frame of the dominant China discourse.     

Asia’s and Europe’s energy policy challenges: introduction

We bring together a collection of papers that were presented at the inaugural event of the Asia‐Europe Energy Policy Research Network (AEEPRN), held at Singapore in May 2012. The idea for creating AEEPRN was in response to the growing importance of energy in Asia and Europe’s relations and to our shared belief that energy will become a more significant aspect of these relations over the forthcoming years and decades. The papers presented here cover the following themes: wind energy, biofuels, natural gas and gas pipelines, exergy and manufacturing, green energy co‐operation, coal, unconventional gas and solar energy.     

The European Union’s common foreign and security policy reforms and its implications for Northeast Asia

The European Union (EU) is at a turning point. With the bipolar order of the Cold War fast becoming a distant memory, the European Union must quickly establish itself on the global stage before it loses the opportunity to do so. With Northeast Asia fast emerging as a new economic giant and political center for world affairs, the EU must reform its Common Foreign and Security Policy in order to develop a reputation and image as a global actor of soft power, based on its long-standing values and peaceful diplomacy. However, despite major reforms in the Lisbon Treaty (2009), the EU has not been able to form cohesion amongst its members, thus hindering its progress in achieving such international recognition. This paper therefore analyses the reforms taken place so far and suggests further reforms that will build a strong foundation for a united and cohesive foreign policy. It will then look at how the reformed framework will allow the EU to establish itself as a global actor in political affairs, in particular in Northeast Asia.     

The India–US–China triangle from New Delhi: overcoming the “hesitations of history”

ABSTRACT

With the focus of global politics shifting to the Indo-Pacific and the maritime domain becoming the new theater of global power politics, the triangular relationship between India, the US, and China needs a fresh evaluation. This article examines the evolution of the India-US-China triangle since the end of the Cold War from the perspective of New Delhi. It argues that a combination of structural and domestic political variables has led to a significant shift from a soft balancing approach by China and India vis-à-vis the US to a more robust limited hard balancing by India and the US vis-à-vis China.     

Guest Editor’s Introduction: India’s Economy: Growth,Governance, and Reform

This introduction provides the context for, summarizes, and connects the articles in the special issue.     

Central Asia’s pipeline politics and India’s energy quest

Asia Europe Journal - Although Central Asia emerged out of the ashes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, yet the ‘Five Stans’ (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan...     

Sen’s capability approach and microcredit: lessons from a Malaysian case

This article examines a case study from Malaysia, the Credit Union Malaysia, to illustrate how the capability framework and institutions have practical value within the scope of microcredit, and how the constraints that the disadvantaged face can be relaxed through the use of microcredit. The capability approach provides an analytical framework to describe how a microcredit scheme can overcome the problems posed by conversion factors in order to enlarge the space of capabilities available to individuals.     

China’s Oceanic Aspirations: New Insights from the Experts

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is rapidly building a blue-water force structure, but little is known about how the service intends to use these new platforms in operations outside of East Asia. This article answers key questions about the future trajectory of the PLAN by examining the service’s strategy of “Far Sea Protection.” It argues that Far Seas Protection is predicated on two desires: (1) to strengthen China’s ability to protect the homeland from attack from the sea and (2) to safeguard the country’s expanding overseas interests. Ultimately, the PLAN intends to do so through the conduct of “far seas mobile operations” with aircraft carrier strike groups, amphibious assault ships, and nuclear-powered submarines. If conflict occurs before these platforms are available to the fleet, the PLAN would conduct asymmetric warfare east of the first island chain, using an approach described as “far seas sabotage guerilla operations.”     

What does New Delhi’s engagement with the war in Syria (and Iraq) reveal about India as an International Actor?

This article examines whether New Delhi’s engagement with the ongoing conflict in Syria (and Iraq) demonstrates that India is leaving behind its traditionally cautious and risk-averse foreign policy stance and becoming a more proactive international actor. India has not engaged actively with and has not tried to wield substantial influence over the course of this conflict; instead, after a moderate burst of diplomatic activity in the second half of 2011 India has largely tried to avoid involvement. There are some indications that India is trying to become more proactive in its region, in trade diplomacy, and toward a rising China; yet, results sometimes fail to meet ambitions. Accordingly, the article concludes that, on balance, India’s foreign policy orientation has not yet changed significantly; it remains a cautious, reactive international actor unwilling to engage with and actively shape the outcome of crucial crises or conflicts.     

Learning to Think the Unthinkable: Lessons from India’s Nuclear Tests

This article examines the impact that national economic policies adopted during Indira Gandhi's final term in office (1980–84) had on four “national” social groups, namely the big industrialists, the middle class, the rich peasantry, and the poor. The study argues that the Congress (I) chose the former two as its major allies, while the rich peasantry and the poor were relegated to a secondary position. In the process, the focus of India's strategy of development shifted from the agrarian to the industrial sector, and from the rural to the urban world.     

Promotion of democracy as a foreign policy instrument of ‘Europe’: Limits to international idealism

The promotion of democracy abroad was a much published issue in ‘European’ foreign policy during the 1990s. Based on five case studies, this article argues that the policy had very clear limitations to it. The limits were mainly imposed by the high priority given to security, and secondly they were the result of the institutional structure and the political‐bureaucratic culture of the European Community. However, it would be wrong to conclude that the policy declarations on democracy were not important to the European Community/European Union and to the member states. The issue was definitely important, but that was because it served other purposes. First, the promotion of democracy abroad was conceived as one among a number of instruments promoting European security in the post‐cold war era. Secondly, promotion of democracy internationally contributed to the higher profile in world affairs that Europe had sought since 1958. And thirdly, this international profile might have pushed the integration process forward within Europe.     

India’s “Connect Central Asia” Policy:Elements and Outcomes

Although India is not geographically adjacent to Central Asia,it has made great efforts to formulate its own Central Asia policy.In recent years,India’s“Connect Central Asia”policy(CCAP)has served as the leading concept of India’s policy towards Central Asia.Studying the implementation of CCAP is of great significance for a comprehensive understanding of India’s diplomacy in Central Asia.     

The ambivalent influence of the domestic industries on India’s meandering foreign economic policies

Most of the Indian government’s bi- and multilateral trade initiatives are stuck in political deadlock. At the same time, the unilateral measures are lurching between trade restricting and liberalizing policies. By conducting detailed investigations into the process of the trade policy formulation in three industries, this article seeks to discern the societal pressures that are driving the government’s trade preferences and policies. The empirical results show that the government’s tortuous dealings can be explained by two impulses of the domestic industries that have been emanated by the opening of the economy in the 1990s. Most of the domestic industries—grappling with competition from abroad—will call for some form of protection from the global markets. These compulsions, however, endanger the benefits that other domestic industries derive from the global markets—through the access to intermediate goods, foreign investments or export opportunities. This is why they will militate against protectionist interventions. The outcome is an overall consolidation of the open trade regime, which is, however, frequently upset by spats between different domestic industries over the formulation of trade policies.     

Business’ societal involvement: towards a moral view

Abstract

Businesses which function according to a neoliberal framework objectify society by seeing it as a mechanism to enhance profit. Businesses become involved on a societal level so as to portray themselves as caring and to generate positive publicity. This article critically discusses this relationship between business and society and then investigates two alternatives, namely, alternatives along the socialism-capitalism continuum and alternatives beyond the socialismcapitalism debate. In this relationship, conservation, eco-operation, empowerment, accord, succour and justice are important to business. The managerial relationship between business and society is analysed against the background of businesses’ involvement in society.