Which determinant factors play an important role in making India’s foreign policy? Illustrate with examples. (2016, 10 Marks)
Foreign policy is the running settlement between a state’s interests and its constraints. India’s is shaped by an unusually large set of internal and external determinants that often pull in different directions, which is why strategic autonomy has been its durable compromise.
Internal determinants
| Factor | How it shapes policy | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Size and geography | Asymmetry with neighbours; continental and maritime fronts | Non-reciprocal aid; MAHASAGAR (2025) |
| History | Anti-colonialism, suspicion of alliances | Non-alignment; rejection of the discriminatory NPT |
| Society and culture | Cross-border kinship | Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka; West Bengal and the stalled Teesta deal |
| Economy | Market size after 1991 | FTAs with the UAE, Australia, EFTA and the UK (in force July 2026); RCEP declined in 2019 |
| Leadership | Sets tempo and risk appetite | Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-alignment; Indira Gandhi in 1971; Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 1998 tests; Narendra Modi’s personal diplomacy |
| Domestic politics | Coalitions and opinion as vetoes | The Left’s opposition to the 2008 nuclear deal |
Further illustrations
- Energy dependence: about 88.7% of crude was imported in 2025-26. When the US–Israeli war on Iran disrupted Hormuz in 2026, India leaned on its 41-plus suppliers rather than on any one patron.
- Diaspora and human capital: some 35.4 million overseas Indians and record remittances of $135.46 billion (2024-25) anchor ties with the US, the UK and the Gulf.
- Climate vulnerability: a long, low-lying coastline made India a co-founder, with France, of the International Solar Alliance (2015).
- Soft power: yoga (International Day of Yoga, adopted by the UN in 2014), Ayurveda and cinema.
External determinants
- System structure: bipolarity made non-alignment viable; multipolarity permits multi-alignment (the Quad alongside BRICS, whose New Delhi summit India hosted in September 2026).
- The China–Pakistan nexus: the two-front problem, sharpened by economic dependence; China became India’s largest trading partner in 2025-26, with a deficit of about $112 billion.
- Great-power coercion: US tariffs of 50% (August 2025), cut to 18% in February 2026, and the US Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (September 2026) show how trade weapons bear on choices about Russian oil.
Weighing them
Robert D. Putnam’s two-level game (1988) captures how leaders bargain abroad while securing ratification at home. Kanti Bajpai’s Nehruvian, neoliberal and hyperrealist schools read the same factors differently. Geography and history set the frame; the economy and leadership set the tempo; domestic politics filters.
Conclusion
No single factor decides India’s policy. The objective running through them is decisional freedom, now backed by economic weight that makes autonomy more affordable, and more contested, than before.