Foreign Policy denotes the strategy or approach adopted by the national government to achieve its goals in its relations with external entities. The idea is, that every country or state should have a foreign policy. While foreign policy may or may not be coherent or in an organized form, it always exists. There are multiple internal and external determinants of foreign policy of a nation. Some thinkers give primacy to certain factors over others. For example, the English geographer Mackinder emphasizes the importance of land-based power. On the other hand, Alfred Mahan, an American historian emphasises the importance of naval power in international relations. There are always multiple factors at play, and the relative importance varies from nation to nation(spatially), and from time to time (temporarily).

Major Determinants of India’s Foreign Policy are

Geographical factors: -

• Geographical factors are important in determining foreign policy, which is called geopolitics. India occupies a central position in Asia and occupies the largest area in South Asia. In such a situation, any big incident in the whole of Asia affects India. The Himalayas are like sentinels of India which play an important role in determining relations with other Himalayan countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar. But the desire of China to maintain its dominance in the region continuously since 1962 has a clear impact on India''s foreign policy, which has recently shown a change in relations with Nepal.
• Along with this, India has a natural edge in the Indian Ocean. India''s dominance over the Indian Ocean is necessary to become an important power of the Indian-Pacific region. At present, the Indian Ocean region is an important route of trade and communication for the whole world. Hence, it also plays an important role in determining the foreign policy of India.

Population: -

• India is currently the second most populous and youngest country in the world, so India is becoming a consumption-oriented country, in such a situation it will fulfill the need of a big market for all the producing nations, which is the determinant of foreign policy. But with such a large population, problems like hunger, poverty are evident on India''s foreign policy. Many times there has been a dispute in the World Trade Union between India and America about the government''s intervention in agricultural subsidies.

Government System: -

• India has a democratic governance system that inspires many countries of the world to accept Indian ideology, for example, ASEAN countries plagued by China look towards India because India''s democracy follows the principle of peaceful coexistence. But many times in the parliamentary system, the role of state governments is also important in determining foreign policy, it becomes more important if there is a coalition government at the center, as was shown in the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka and the 2005 US Nuclear Deal.

Economic Development :-

• Economic sovereignty is of utmost importance in determining foreign policy. Like its policy, India had to open its markets in 1991, but after that India has become very strong financially. India''s economic growth has attracted many countries. Today, India is an important energy consumer, with countries like Turkmenistan, Iran Russia having economic alliances with India. But still the negative trade balance with China remains India''s main problem.

Culture :-

• History and culture can be seen as important in the formulation of India''s foreign policy. Kautilya''s theory of a powerful kingdom with the ideals of Buddha and Gandhi shows the path of India. India''s civil-civilian religious relationship is well established from many countries of the world where there are Hindu, Islam, Christian, Buddhist majorities. The basis of India-Israel relations is somewhere in the policy of all religions of India. Principles like imperialism, colonialism, opposition to armaments have been derived from the history of India which are seen in India''s foreign policy today.

Regional Environment: -

• Regional events are also important in determining foreign policy. For example, in 1971, the alliance of China, US and Pakistan brought a crisis situation for India, then India got inclined towards Russia. At present, the increasing dominance of China is also a reason for intensification of India-US relations. India has increased India''s capacity and power with Look East to Act East policies and China''s rise in ASEAN.

Global environment: -

• After globalization, when the whole world connected with each other, global factors also became important in determining foreign policy. India may oppose the move to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on environment issues, even if there is cooperation between India and America. And this is also an example of India wants democratic government in Afghanistan for the suppression of terrorism.
• After the Second World War, the world order has changed in many ways, keeping in mind that India tries to reform the UN Security Council.

Military power :-

• Today India is the third most powerful country in the Army, fourth in the Air Force and sixth in the Navy. At the same time, India is rich in nuclear power. Everyone knows India dominance in space. In such a situation, they play an important role in the foreign policy making of India.

These elements are present in today''s foreign policy of India, but these elements change constantly. In modern times, it is necessary to determine policies keeping the national interest in mind.