Explain the philosophical foundations of India’s foreign policy. (150 words) (2021, 10 Marks)
India’s foreign policy rests on a civilisational vocabulary older than the state itself. Its philosophical foundations come from three layers: classical thought, the Gandhian and freedom-movement ethic, and Jawaharlal Nehru’s liberal internationalism, together with the constitution’s own directive. These layers explain both its moral idiom and its pragmatism.
Classical and civilisational roots
- Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family): a universalist ethic, revived as the theme of India’s G20 presidency (2023), “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
- Ashoka’s dhamma: renunciation of conquest and influence through moral example, which Nehru drew on.
- Kautilya’s Arthashastra: a realist counter-strand of mandala (the neighbour as rival, the neighbour’s neighbour as ally) and the six-fold policy, which ties posture to relative power.
- The middle path (ati sarvatra varjayet, avoid excess): a disposition against the extremes of alliance and isolation.
Gandhian and national-movement ethic
- Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence produced the conviction that war and violence settle nothing lasting, hence the preference for peaceful settlement of disputes and the long campaign for universal, non-discriminatory disarmament, from Nehru’s 1954 call for a standstill on nuclear testing to the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan (1988).
- Rabindranath Tagore’s universalism and his critique of the aggressive nation-state (Nationalism, 1917) added a cosmopolitan strand.
- Anti-colonialism and anti-racism: India’s freedom was seen as tied to that of Asia and Africa, which led to support for decolonisation and early opposition to apartheid.
Nehruvian synthesis
Kanti Bajpai describes the Nehruvian premise: conflict springs from mistrust and miscommunication, so dialogue and restraint produce security.
- Non-alignment: autonomy of judgement rather than neutrality, the defining principle from 1947.
- Panchsheel (1954): the five principles of peaceful coexistence, meant as the basis of relations with neighbours.
- Asian and Afro-Asian solidarity: the Asian Relations Conference (1947) and Bandung (1955).
- A just world order: from the NIEO demands of the 1970s to three Voice of the Global South summits (2023–24) and the BRICS New Delhi Declaration (September 2026), adopted under India’s chair, which calls for IMF, World Bank and WTO reform.
Constitutional statement
Article 51 commits the state to promote international peace, maintain just and honourable relations, respect international law and encourage arbitration.
Pragmatic adaptation
The foundations are not static. S. Jaishankar (The India Way, 2020) reads the Mahabharata as a text of ethics and power together. Strategic autonomy and multi-alignment are the newer principles, and Operation Sindoor (2025) shows restraint now paired with deterrence.
Conclusion
India’s philosophy blends idealism and realism: Ashoka and Kautilya, Gandhi and Nehru. Its moral vocabulary shapes how India’s choices are received, while national interest decides them, which is why principle and pragmatism coexist without contradiction.