India Today Conclave 2004: Yashwant Sinha, Sunil Khilnani on India's power capabilities

Minister for External Affairs Yashwant Sinha and Sunil Khilnani, Professor of Politics and Director, South Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University discuss 'What it Takes to be a World Power' at India Today Conclave 2004.




Double take: Sunil Khilnani (left) and Yashwant Sinha on prerequisites of world power
Power for Peace and Prosperity

The term "Great Power" should not be seen in its historical context but in a 21st century setting. India distances itself from the conventional idea of power as the ability of a nation to bend other nations to its will through coercive use of force. It is also essential to make clear at the very outset that India approaches the notion of power with an alternative vision.

India's power capabilities are a guarantee of the freedom and security of its people. Power is a means of preserving the autonomy of our national policies. Our pursuit of power is firmly anchored in a mission aimed at eliminating war, protecting international law, strengthening the UN and striving for a new deal for developing countries.

Power in the 21st century will flow from the pores of a well-run economy. Prosperity rather than war and aggression will be the key determinant of status. Our young are not only talented but also among those who save the highest, invest the largest and spend the most.

India's recent achievements in terms of hard power are obvious. They include the development of a nuclear deterrent, military modernisation, rapid economic growth with a rate expected to reach over 8 per cent this year, major advances in areas of high technology and global recognition of India's huge reservoir of young and world-class human resources.

It has been argued that India's decision to develop nuclear weapons was purely a political act aimed at breaking into the exclusive nuclear club. This is a fallacy. In a world where weapons of mass destruction are still to be eliminated, nuclear weapons remain the ultimate guarantor of a nation's security.

India's influence has spread on the strength of our culture, religion and philosophy. As the land of Gandhi India has an international image that few others can claim. India's track record as a democracy, our diverse society, independent judiciary and vibrant press also stand out. Needless to say, the success of our IITs and the IT industry has spawned a novel stereotype of an Indian as a workaholic computer whizkid.

Three important aspects deserve further elaboration. First, India is a unique model of democracy plus economic growth in the developing world. We will establish that rapid economic growth and democratic systems of governance are not alien to each other.

Second, being a world power implies a major change in both political attitudes and objectives. Shifting from the self-perception of a weak developing country to that of a great power in the making constitutes a huge mental leap for India.

India's foreign policy has never been as complete and comprehensive as it is today. Throughout the Cold War we were estranged from the West in general and the US in particular. Today, we enjoy very good relationships with not only the United States but also all major western powers.

And this has not been at the cost of our traditional friendship with Russia or any other country, including our developing coun-try partners in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Pursuit of power and the need to address pressing tasks at home are not mutually exclusive. The speed with which we address our domestic challenges will add to our influence in the international community and vice versa.India's biggest strength is its secular and multi-cultural ethos. It is a matter of pride that India is home to every religion and all of them co-exist.

The fact that India's Muslim population is the second largest in the world and that its Christian minority outnumbers the entire population of many European countries is a badge of honour.

India does not resort to export of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Of all the members of Al-Qaida arrested so far, not one has been from India. We are not part of the NPT. But we believe in and uphold the broader non-proliferation goals of the treaty. The rise of India will depend not just on India's actions but also on how the rest of the world responds.

As a major power, the values that India will seek to spread will be those that infuse its national and civilisational experience. India will always stand for democracy. It will act as a proactive agent of peace. India will strive for international equality and justice. A new destiny awaits us once again.
Yashwant Sinha is Minister for External Affairs


Hard, Soft and Bridging Power

The only real gift is the gift of strength," Rabindranath Tagore said almost one hundred years ago, "all other offerings are in vain." The poet recounted as a spur to his colonised compatriots the fable of the child and the Lord: the child, pursued by stronger beasts, asks the Lord, "Lord, how is it that all creatures seek to devour me?" The Lord replies, "What can I do, my child? When I look at you I myself am so tempted." Why are we in India so interested in the question of world power today?

India's higher international visibility today stems from two distinct sources. The first has to do with steady economic growth, the increasing use of its fruits for military material and, of course, the acquisition of a nuclear arsenal. The second concerns developments beyond our borders.

The global order is in a flux: all states feel a heightened sense of danger and fear. We live at a time when the priority of military force is being noisily asserted. The US has shifted its focus from Europe to the volatile crescent between Palestine and Indonesia-and on China, which looms over this geographical curve. India, at the heart of this crescent, could serve as an anchor against extremism and a curb on China.

The attention India is getting comes largely from its geostrategic position and the changing balance of international power. It makes good sense for us to exploit these raised external expectations and use the chance to instruct ourselves on the new necessities and responsibilities of world power- to instil in our elites an instinct for power.

At the most fundamental level, the power of any state derives from its economic and military might. Here India is better off than it was 50 years ago, which is not an overnight achievement. Yet if we limit ourselves to this narrow realistic dimension, India will find it hard to rival the prowess of the world's great states.

Beyond the GDP, we need to look at a state's ability to access resources and the ability to use these efficiently. Resources and capabilities do not translate readily into positive outcomes: the mere possession of economic and military force can be a recipe for catastrophe.

The very states that have operated with purely instrumentalist views of power and international relations have caused havoc in the world order and disaster for themselves: think of the two World Wars and the fate of Japan and Germany.

Of late, it has become fashionable to talk about "soft power". The greatest individual exponent of soft power was none other than Gandhi himself. He saw acutely how even in the absence of certain basic kinds of power a nation might still be potent in its moral legitimacy.

In recent decades, we have done well in building up our economic and military power. It is somewhat ironic, therefore, that the rise in our economic and military strength has coincided with a decline in moral power.

There is dissonance in the image we project: on the one hand, Brand Software, an image of cognitive rationality and dexterity; on the other, Brand Saffron, the exclusionary ideology of Hindutva.

Yet even the blend of "hard" and "soft" power cannot guarantee that a state gets its own way. The most striking example is the US. Despite being unsurpassed on all the indicators of hard power, America is still repeatedly frustrated.

In India's case, hard and soft power need to be reconfigured to accommodate an intermediary or bridging power. India seeks a more decisive role in a world where asymmetries of power are taking new and complex forms.

Historically, India has positioned itself between the rich and the poor-and between contending ideological groups. Its primary mode of exercising autonomy in the international domain has been negative. In the coming years India can choose to define itself as a middling power, like Israel. Or, we can become an intermediary power, a bridging state.

As a bridging power, India can have a unique role: poised between the rich states and the poor, and between the US and China. It assures both independence and indispensability. India could become a power that provides the essential connectivity in a fragmenting world.

The current peace initiative with Pakistan, if it can deliver enduring peace with our western neighbour, would be a vital step toward India's gaining greater voice and recognition as a world power. Much hangs upon it.

We must be austere, not profligate with the use of our new power. We must continue to build up its tangible forms-our economic wealth and military security. India's movement towards freedom, autonomy and strength has been in step with the drift of modern world history. To be able to reason with others and build coalitions across conflicting interests are the gifts of true greatness.

Gandhi's genius was his ability to redefine what power was. India's weakness in physical power meant it had to find other ways to engage stronger nations. The times are vastly different now, the economic resources we possess far greater.

And yet the tools we will rely on are essentially the ones we have possessed for centuries: our wit, our moral discipline, and our faith in our power to persuade.
Sunil Khilnani is Professor of Politics and Director, South Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University


Q. There are three serious issues pertaining to the Indian situation. First, India's energy deficiency is to the tune of 70-80 per cent. Its energy resources are in Central Asia and in the Middle East-both areas of instability.

Second, if you do not control the growth of population, it gives rise to unemployment. Third, India is lagging in education even as the intellectual capability of a country is seen as an essential component of power. How are these being addressed?
Sunil Khilnani: The external affairs minister pointed out that we have a predominantly young population and the combination of being young and poor, I think, is a combination that has driven other aspiring powers into the great power league. This is true of Germany and China. So this actually can be a motor for moving an economy forward.
Yashwant Sinha: I referred to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. We recognise the importance of education in human resource development. As for energy resources, I talked about our investments in the energy sector in Russia, Sudan, Vietnam and Myanmar and there are more areas where Indian firms are involved in exploration on the basis of oil equity.

As far as a runaway growth of population is concerned, I think all the policy initiatives taken have ensured that we gradually bring down its rate. But we are past that stage when we looked at the population as a liability. Today, we are looking at India's trained skilled population more as an asset.

Q. Hard power and soft power are not competitive. They are complementary. We have had soft power for centuries and yet we were colonised over and over again. The military need not be the leading attribute of power. But I was quite surprised by Khilnani's views. I think he tended to compartmentalise power. Sinha: We agree with this analysis that you have to have a combination of hard and soft power to achieve a major power status.
Khilnani: Absolutely. I certainly see hard and soft power as being complementary and certainly one needs hard power. What I was trying to suggest was to link them; that we need a more supple, sophisticated view of power, one which encompasses hard and soft and tries to move beyond it to consider how we can actually use this strategically in the world order as it is today.

Q. Do you think that we in India have understood the traditional concepts of power. Do we know how to use it. We let problems simmer till it is impossible to solve them without the use of force. Have we acquired the ability to put the powers of persuasion into effect?
Khilnani: There is an understanding of traditional concepts of power. And military power has always ideally been a backup to the process of persuasion and dialogue. It is there as a sanction in case it is needed. We developed our military power in recent decades because that is a necessity given the kind of regional and international neighbourhood we have. We don't look at it as the first recourse to deal with conflicts. We still see dialogue as being the primary way forward.

Q. The focus should be on India's democratic power because it has come out as the biggest and most diverse democracy.
Sinha: India's democracy has been recognised as its strength. It is a sign of India's greatness.

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