Diplomacy and development
C. T. KURIEN
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Exploration of the symbiotic relationship between economic policy and foreign policy
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STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES OF INDIA'S ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE: Sanjaya Baru; Academic Foundation, 4772-73/23 Bharat Ram Road (23, Ansari Road), Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 795.
Just a few months after Independence, intervening in a debate on foreign policy in the Constituent Assembly (Legislative), Jawaharlal Nehru said: "Ultimately, foreign policy is the outcome of economic policy, and until India has properly evolved her economic policy, her foreign policy will be rather vague, rather inchoate, and will be groping." In the decades that followed, this symbiotic relationship between economic policy and foreign policy may have remained somewhat eclipsed. But more than half a century later Sanjaya Baru picked up the theme and in a series of essays and newspaper columns written between 1993 and 2004, he has fleshed it out under very different economic conditions and international environment. During these years the author was one of our distinguished journalists, first as Associate Editor of the Times of India and The Economic Times, subsequently as the Chief Editor of The Financial Express. Presently he is the Prime Minister's Media Advisor and Spokesperson, but he makes it clear that the pieces brought together in this volume were all written before he took up his present assignment.
State of flux
The context of Baru's writing was very different from what constituted the background to Nehru's statement. During the Cold War era, notwithstanding many convulsive events in the international arena, there was an underlying stability in international affairs precisely because of the division of nations into two blocks with an "Iron Curtain" separating the two. True, there was a third block of "non-aligned" countries, but non-alignment too was an implicit affirmation of the basic dichotomy. What has replaced it when the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union is a matter of continuing debate. One view has it that what has emerged is a unipolar world with the U.S. calling the shots. A contending view is that what is emerging is a polycentric world where every nation, big and small, is constantly striving to evolve the pattern of its relationships with practically every other nation, thus constituting a state of flux.
Baru subscribes to the latter view. The state of flux, he argues, presents challenges as well as opportunities for nations to redefine their relationships. Witness, for instance, the manner in which the U.S. goes about this task by shifting from its long-term eastern ally, Japan to its one-time bitter foe, China. The U.S. is also showing a more positive interest in India, which it had largely ignored in the past.
Four Ds
In the lead article in the collection Baru indicates that in this new context sustained economic growth is vital for India to promote her interests in the global arena. That the four Ds — development, defence, diplomacy and diaspora — are, therefore, integrally interconnected, is the thesis he expounds in the more than 60 pieces in the volume.
Baru is an enthusiastic supporter of the internal and external changes that started in India in the early 1990s and have been going on since then. There may have been many compulsions for the major changes in economic policy initiated in 1991, but according to him the basic reason for the change was the recognition of the new global economic and political patterns that were unfolding with the end of the Cold War. The earliest of the pieces brought into the collection, written in 1993 contrasts the "grand vision, the strategic thinking" of the Indian industrialists who drew up the Bombay Plan of 1944 and the "modest charter of demands" of the so-called `Bombay Club' who appeared to be intimidated by the international competition resulting from the reforms of 1991. He points out too that before the nuclear explosion of 1998 (Pokhran II) detailed homework was done anticipating economic sanctions, especially by the U.S., and ensuring that a big economy like ours can survive selective sanctions without much adverse effect.
China as model
Baru offers China as a model of what a determined nation can do. Recall the sagacity and strategic initiative of Chairman Mao way back in the early 1970s to establish political and economic links with the U.S. who was then a major adversary. After the U.S. opened its markets to China, the Chinese won the support of the American middle class by exporting a wide range of inexpensive household equipments, toys and much more. And by agreeing to hold its trade surplus in the form of U.S. treasury bills, and thus enabling the U.S. not to become uncomfortable about its trade deficit, China has also won the political support of the U.S.
These may not be the options for India. But it is imperative for India too to establish stronger economic, political and cultural links with the U.S., because whether one likes it or not, the U.S. is the strongest economy and the most powerful nation in the world today, and will continue to remain so in the foreseeable future. India has both the strength and maturity to do this without compromising her interests. The presence of a large and influential Indian diaspora in the U.S. and the IT industry may be the means to build up stronger and mutually beneficial links between the two leading democracies of the world. Equally important is for India to strengthen its "Look East" policy and build up a more decisive role in Asia.
There are bound to be differences of opinion about some of the positions that Baru advocates. But there is likely to be wide acceptance of his basic theme: "Unless the Indian economy is more competitive and is more globally engaged, unless the economic well-being of all Indians is assured, unless the financial health of the Government improves, India will not be able to sustain itself as a major power".
The uniqueness of the volume lies in the fact that there is hardly any other work that weaves together the many diverse aspects to produce a tapestry that is at once strong and elegant.
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