IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 9th May 2020
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.– Zig Ziglar
Dear AspirantsIASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020.
Dear Aspirants
IASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020.
EDITORIAL HUNT 76:“Shaping India’s response in a global hinge moment“
SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL | Shaping India’s Response
Shivshankar Menon
Shivshankar Menon is a former National Security Adviser.
A longer version of this argument appeared in “India’s Foreign Affairs Strategy”, Brookings India Impact Series, May 2020
HEADLINES:
Shaping India’s response in a global hinge moment
CENTRAL THEME:
The most important improvements concern its national security structures and their work, and flexibility in thinking
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2:IR
MAINS QUESTION:
It is a hinge moment in the international system.US-China structural conflicts can benefit India. Substantiate -(GS 2)
LEARNING:
- How to combat diplomacy of China ?
- What leadership skills can guide India ?
- How much we are dependent on our immediate neighbours .
INTRODUCTION:
- India finds itself in an increasingly dangerous world, one that is fragmenting and slowing down economically.
- We are today in a new geopolitical situation, caused primarily by the rise of China, India and other powers — Indonesia, South Korea, Iran, Vietnam — in a crowded Asia-Pacific, which is the new economic and political centre of gravity of the world.
Rapid shifts in the balance of power in the region have led to arms races and to rising uncertainty, also fuelled by the unpredictability, disengagement and the transactional “America First” attitude of United States President Donald Trump.
- China-U.S. strategic contention is growing, uninhibited so far by their economic co-dependence.
- As China seeks primacy in a world so far dominated by the U.S., the world faces a destabilising power transition which may or may not be completed.
BODY:
STRATEGIC AUTONOMY :
STRATEGIC AUTONOMY :
- CHANGING POLICIES : There is a common thread running through the foreign and security policies of successive governments of India until this one, irrespective of their various political persuasions: it has been the pursuit of strategic autonomy for India.
- UNCERTAINITY : If there is any situation in which India should retain the initiative and not get entangled in others’ quarrels, keeping India’s powder dry and free to pursue its own national interest, it is this disorganised and uncertain world.
- CREATIVE DIPLOMACY : This is a world that calls for creative diplomacy and flexibility, adjusting to the fast-changing balance of power and correlation of forces around us.
EXAMPLE : The Doklam crisis of 2017 is only the most recent example that shows that no one else is ready to deal with India’s greatest strategic challenge — China.
- It saw a tepid reaction from the rest of the world. To expect anything else is unreasonable.
THE CHINA QUESTION
THE CHINA QUESTION
- OPPORTUNISTIC APPROACH : One possibility is to engage China bilaterally to see whether the two countries can evolve a new modus vivendi(way of life), to replace the one that was formalised in the 1988 Rajiv Gandhi visit.
- CO-OPERATION : The more India rises, the more it must expect Chinese opposition, and it will have to also work with other powers to ensure that its interests are protected in the neighbourhood, the region and the world.
- CHARACTERS TO PLAY: The balance will keep shifting between cooperation and competition with China, both of which characterise that relationship.
- MACRO BALANCING POWERS : The important thing is the need to rapidly accumulate usable and effective power, even while the macro balance will take time to right itself.
- STRATEGIC DIALOGUES : This would require a high-level strategic dialogue between the two sides about their core interests, red lines, differences and areas of convergence.
- US POSITION : Certainly, it will no longer be the upholder of international order, economic or political, and seems to have tired of that role.
- MULTI-POLARITY : India must work with other powers to ensure that its region stays multi-polar and that China behaves responsibly.
DOUBLE OPPORTUNITY AWAITS
DOUBLE OPPORTUNITY AWAITS
LEADERSHIP GOALS:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared a goal of India to be a ‘Vishwa guru’, or world teacher, which is still a long way away when it is an importer of knowledge and technology.
- Nor is it clear that this status will actually contribute to transforming the lives of India’s citizens, though it might satisfy the ego.
OPEN COMPETITION:
- Tactically, China-U.S. contention — which is structural and, therefore, likely to continue for some time with a paradigm shift away from cooperation to increasing contention, despite temporary deals and “victories” declared by one or both — opens up opportunities and space for other powers.
IASbhai Windup:
- Today, India is more dependent on the outside world than ever before.
It relies on the world for energy, technology, essential goods like fertilizer and coal, commodities, access to markets, and capital.
SECURITY CONCERNS:
- When you add the new security agenda and the contested global commons in outer and cyberspace and the high seas to India’s traditional state-centred security concerns, you can see why there is greater worry or a sense of insecurity.
- The most important improvement that India needs to make concerns its national security structures .
2 comments
# IT WAS REALLY HELPFUL ……COMPILATION OF (MAJOR CONCERN + CURRENT ISSUES+ RELEVANT EXAMPLES+ BALANCED CONCLUSION)
# HELPFUL FOR THE BIGINNERS
Hello Ananya ,
Glad you found this helpful . Stay Tuned !
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