The New Turn In Indian Foreign Policy: Soft Power Capabilities Of India
Traditionally the test of a great power was its strength in war. Today, however, the definition of power is losing its emphasis on military force and conquest that marked earlier eras. The factors of technology, education, and economic growth are becoming more significant in international power, while geography, population, and raw materials are becoming somewhat less important”-Joseph Nye
The concept of power has been defined variedly in various disciplines. But, contextualizing power in international relations as traditionally identified by states was basically coercive power over other nation-states, as the result of which other states would be forced to consider the agenda of the state using such coercion. But Joseph Nye explores an entirely different concept of “soft power” or power of attraction, which stands different from coercion and inducement & as something supplementary to hard power; and a necessity for any state in the changed global political scenario. He was writing at the time, when the cold war met its end with the implosion of the Soviet Union, the growing interdependence of the states and moreover when the traditional concept of power was gradually transforming. It was then just not enough to own coercive powers and resources, by the state because new difficulties were on their way. So a new form of power was then becoming desirable by a powerful state with which, it can easily manipulate others. So, at the fag-end of the cold war era, United States was thus expected to use power in a manner, so that it could control the changing political environment. But this was not the case for United States only, but for all the countries. In the era of complex interdependence, with growing dominant coalitions of state & private actors, which acts across international boundaries, affects outcomes somewhat differently from the traditional power equations. From that time onwards, subtle concepts like-“security” didn’t necessarily mean military or muscle-strengthening only, but security of technology, economic and ecological.
Keeping this at the background, this paper will try to evaluate India’s capabilities of soft power in the changing global context, when it comes to terms of making people identify it with its unique culture and immense capabilities, other than its crude power potentialities. The idea of using culture or other ‘soft’ aspects of power to influence foreign policy is not something alien to the tradition of India. From ancient times, the use of non military and non coercive means to gain favor of other powers has found mention in the political thought of Kautilya (who is more famous for his Machiavellian ways). In modern times, the independence of India in 1947 found the nascent state in a world highly polarized by Cold War realities. In such a situation, when India sought to take a leading role in the Non Aligned Movement, it had little money to rely on. In such a situation, the history, heritage of civilization provided India with the much needed cultural capital which helped it gain influence in World politics. Even before independence, leaders like Nehru were talking about India taking an important part in World Politics. How much of clout did India have (after two centuries of colonial drain) that India could pursue such aspirations? Again, the answer is Culture capital- or soft power. It is this cultural capital which has helped augment India’s image in the arena of world politics right from the fifties.
As Tharoor, who happened to be the former External Minister, puts soft power as something which isn’t about conquering others; but being one’s own self thereby, reflecting ones socio-cultural values to the world, either through deliberate or accidental means. It is the century of those nations, who has better part of the story to tell which gives it a status of global power. So, one can wonder how much India is content with smart power capacities. So, going by the above definition one can suggest that India should give active attention to the byproducts of its own society, rather than just using hard power establishments, & only that can undoubtedly reach the whole world. It’s because of the culture and ethnic diversity, people around the world looks at India as a land which has a history of different civilizations, where different religions like Parsi, Jews, Christians, and Muslims coexist even today & where the best minds have produced eminent intellectual works over the years. India, as Diana Eck calls it, “sacred Geography”, is a chunk of land which was less a place which is identified with swords, than the visits of pilgrims like Shankaracharya who travelled all over India building up centers’ of pilgrimage in all four corners of the country. It has its age old links with various Central Asian countries and Buddhism had reached from India to China and then across boundaries. The best approach was the regeneration of Nalanda University with the collaboration of China, Japan and South Korea. This makes India to hold an image of a nation where difference and diversity is celebrated. Moreover, India irrespective of its multi ethnic background, since its independence had pledged to form a Democratic Consensus though there has been numerous predictions made on its possible disintegrations. This actually has served to present the image of India, as world’s largest democracy after the United States and thereby a democratic role model. India represents most vibrant cultures through music, art, literature, theatres, dance forms — the diversity is hardly found elsewhere. There are government backed academies of classical music and theatres (Sangeet Natok Academy) which seek to promote and preserve Indian heritage in & across Indian boundaries. You tube nowadays, are flooded with videos where foreigners are seen dancing to the tunes of Rabindranath Tagore and on more recent Hindi songs signifying the exchange of cultures. The Bollywood happens to be one of the biggest cultural industries which is said to be most influential form of exercising soft power by the government. From Shah Rukh khan facing the larger audience at the Ted Talk & being Dubai’s brand ambassador, to Dangal earning crores in China all are the indications of how Bollywood represents the nation, & markets not only to the Indian Diaspora residing outside, but the foreign public as well, as per a statistical report. Other than bollywood, there are other regional centers’ like Bengal, Tamil and Telegu. This cultural industry of Bollywood has a long history since it started its journey with the Motion Pictures, but economic liberalization of 1990s had boosted it further, with the expansion of number of television with Indian cinema reaching its height and almost dominating the entire South Asian Diaspora. The year of 2000, has been the year of Bollywood which had led to the Industrial Developmental Bank of India to permit loans to the film-makers and bollywood was entitled as ‘an industry’ thereby becoming the major source of revenue and instrument of promoting Indian soft power. Now the Indian Diaspora feels comforted and takes pleasure when Indian films are screened outside, which was previously not the case. In United States, the presence of Indian Diaspora in business circles has been immensely beneficial for it leads to huge market. Bollywood now produces films, in foreign locations and moreover casts foreign actors and actresses in films like Kites, Rang de Basanti & others. Politically, it matters only to a little extent of how much a film earns outside, but it does make an appeal of its culture across the boundaries thereby making a popular perception about the nation and its culture. So, government regulates what to show and what not to the larger audiences around the world because it does leave an impact.
Another important way how India exercises its soft power is through its unique cuisines. The impact of it so much that, more people are recruited in the Indian curry restaurants of England than the iron and steel industries. As a Indian chef based in USA says, that the demand of Indian food there is on an increase and it would have been the best if both the countries could launch a gastro-diplomacy program because Indian ingredients’ are found at ease. So, diplomacy over cuisine can be a way forward to strengthen India’s position in global context. Just not the cuisine, India attracts millions through the practices of yoga whose proponents preaching abroad have huge followers across the world. The United Nations, on 21st June was seen celebrating International Yoga Day. This had been agreed by more than 170 countries in the UNGA meeting in 2014 after Modi’s visit to UN, which is indicator of the fact that his visit has been effective in projecting India’s soft power. The videos of ideologues of various religious and spiritual cults preaching various ‘Indian’ ways of living (and overcoming problems of life) through mediations, mental exercises etc are also noteworthy. These cults and preachers have attained a mass following among many foreigners which is evident from the millions of views that they get from all over the world on social networking sites. So, one can easily say that whether its yoga or its bollywood, India’s soft power is growing and making an impact on the people across the globe. Though, the articulation of the concept as a part of diplomatic course for the government is relatively new. But, the use of culture and other ‘soft’ aspects of power are not something new for India. In the south Asian region, India is now challenging the rising yellow peril in terms of its soft power capabilities, though it can never match the huge financial assistance China gives to Africa & others. However, what was new in the nineties was to make an organized effort to utilize it in a globalised world for the pursuance of India’s national interest. What the advent of globalization did was to provide a lot of opportunities for India to spread and utilize its cultural capital. In other words, it increased India’s scope of utilizing and spreading what Bill Clinton calls “Smart Power”.
Over the years, India has evolved into a power to reckon with internationally in both economic and military terms. However, what makes India popular among people across continents is definitely not India’s military might. It is still, India’s behavior as a responsible power and India’s cultural exports which have made India popular across the world. But, Soft power capabilities are never enough in its own ways, and must be supplemented by strong hard power capabilities for any nation which aspires to stand its head high in the new global political context. A state will utilize all its resources and capabilities to fulfill its objectives. This needs no rocket science for one to understand. In this aspect, soft power (as discussed above) is a very effective asset. Now, as realists might retort that soft power is just the soft face of hard power or soft power is hardly effective in the absence of backing of hard power. The reality remains that the sum total national power of a state has both soft as well as hard elements. While it is important to observe the realist versus others debate on which one is the engine and which form of power is the coach, in real life, what matters is who brings benefits to the state’s foreign policy objectives. In case of India, it is both. While India has considerable amount of hard power, its soft power assets also accrue great dividend to India’s national interests. This should be understood in greater detail and the soft power be promoted accordingly.
