Between the region and the World: Understanding India's ‘complex’ multilateral diplomacy

Abstract

India faces a very complex foreign policy dilemma concerning its regional and multilateral diplomacy today. On one hand it is logical that it should see strengthened regionalism as part of its global push for greater recognition and outreach. Therefore the importance of India’s regional engagements through vehicles such as SAARC, BIMSTEC and related sub regional projects can hardly be ignored. On the other hand its simultaneous thrust towards greater voice in International bodies such as the IMF and World Bank, WTO and even United Nations related agencies is part of a progression that has consistently been part of its foreign policy agenda for long. In between, it continues to pursue trans-regional initiatives such as BRICS, IORA and partnerships with EU as well as ASEAN. A fundamental question in these engagements is that of effectiveness and instrumentality of such initiatives, particularly when there is a lot of overlap and convergence between the same. Does excess focus on the region become a stumbling bloc or a building bloc to our global aspirations. Should India follow an ‘either or approach’ or a ‘spaghetti bowl’ approach, given the recent debates on SAARC, BIMSTEC and BRICS have initiated? The present paper tries to explore the above complexity of India’s diplomacy and tries to suggest some avenues which perhaps account for a combination of all the approaches to posit a robust policy outcome for the country.