IIPM: Taming the Dragon

One of the most persistent – and valid –

charges against the Indian state by strategic analysts, over the years, has been that it’s a ‘soft state’. According to them, India has borrowed generously from Mahatma Gandhi and transformed foreign policy into the art of turning the other cheek whenever there has been a diplomatic slap. The more adventurous and bellicose of these analysts want India to learn from Israel when it comes to an uncompromising and relentless pursuit of ‘national interests’. These pundits would have Indian troops chasing terrorists across the border into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Fortunately for India, that kind of jingoism has not replaced hard headed pragmatic diplomacy of the type practised over the last two decades. Along with the spectacular rise in the size and status of the Indian economy since 1991, pragmatic diplomacy, too, has earned many brownie points in the global arena.