What is ‘strategic autonomy’?. For India, the Ukraine war has been an opportunity to practice strategic autonomy. Comment.
Autonomy is akin to sovereignty and a principled and strong India can contribute significantly on the global front while guaranteeing that domestic concerns abate. Strategic partnerships with countries willing to stand by an independent India have been valued for decades. If values of such countries are actually liberal, they must be liberal enough to accept the sovereign functioning of participants in a multipolar world order. Strategic autonomy denotes the ability of a state to pursue its national interests and adopt its preferred foreign policy without being constrained in any manner by other states.
- The Ukraine war has been an opportunity to practice strategic autonomy. Adopting a neutrality India has maintained its relationship with Moscow while iterating support to global peace.
- Indiaworked around Western sanctions to buy oil from Russia. As much as 25% of India’s oil purchase is now from Russia, from less than 2% before the war.
- Recently,India abstained on a UNGA resolution on first anniversary of the war, asking Russia to withdraw from its territory as the resolution had limitations in reaching the lasting goal of securing lasting peace.
- India has abstained on all three votes so far on the Ukraine crisis at the UN General Assembly since Russian invasion.
- But the longer the war continues, the more pressure on India from the Western alliance to choose the “right side”.
- India has expressed the hope that it can use its G-20 presidency to bring peace.
- India emphasizes dialogue and diplomacy, and it has therefore urged Russia and Ukraine to return to the path of diplomacy. In addition, it has repeatedly called for “respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states” and “for the immediate cessation of violence and hostilities.” This balanced approach to the crisis is rooted in India’s tradition of non-alignment, evoked by its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
However, strategic autonomy does not mean unilateralism. The upended global order and the current geopolitical realities have reinforced the need to build strategic partnerships.
The “right side of history” is written by victors employing brute force. A truer victory would lie in pursuing peace and economic stability, ideals towards which India has contributed consistently. It may just be time to consider that bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war will never be India’s goal when pursuing partnerships, and strategic autonomy will ensure that India continues to stand for peace.
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