Self-interest is the primary driving force, and this would continue to shape the Post-COVID international order.
Not many social scientists are concerned about the war between humans and non-humans. The plants, animals, microorganisms, mountain ranges, rivers, oceans, winds, and even space are so crucial for human habitation and survival, yet human beings have been waging wars of various kinds for ages.
When India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh recently hinted that India could opt for “first use” nuclear doctrine depending upon circumstances in future, there was hardly any strong reaction against it either within India or abroad. The reason is not hard to discover. Many champions of nuclear proliferation and even other nuclear weapon powers are not in a position to moralize and advise India against it.
One would not be surprised if Japan in-not-so-distant future changes its age-old stance on nuclear disarmament and opts for the nuclear option due to changing strategic landscape in the emerging global nuclear order. China’s assertiveness, unresolved Russia-Japan territorial disputes, growing rift in Japan-South Korea strategic understanding, increasing threats from a nuclear North Korea and new questions about the reliability of the US nuclear umbrella may induce Japan to exercise its nuclear option.
What India would expect from a strategic partner like the United States is a commitment not to back a state that sponsors terrorism, particularly a state that brags about its nuclear capability and brandishes its nuclear power even unprovoked?
in the backdrop of China’s appearance as a very authoritative naval power in the Indo-Pacific, Chinese claim of sovereignty over a large chunk of South China Sea and belligerent construction of military facilities in some islands, powerlessness of the United States to prevent China from doing so and at the same time rising incidents of Cold Confrontations between the United States and China.
Donald Trump is not the United States, and his administration cannot last forever. “My Way, or the High Way” policy should be replaced with ‘Our Way”, since there are myriad global issues and concerns that cannot be handled by unilateralism.
The Big Power presence in the South China Sea makes it a dangerous flashpoint. The Cold War time trust among alliance partners are missing in the present scenario, and thus it is difficult to say which country will partner with whom and to what extent in coming years.
The current crisis in IR Studies in India need urgent intervention by the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Human Resource Development as the expertise that is required in the era of globalization to handle diplomacy and the need for a strong community of IR scholars plus institutions has never been more.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engagements with the leaders of major world powers are distinct, well measured, and symbol of India’s quest for an autonomous status of India in world affairs.