print

Russia and India:
problems and prospects for cooperation

Kupriyanov A.V.,

Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, a.kupriyanov@imemo.ru

elibrary_id: 899117 | ORCID: 0000-0002-9041-6514 | RESEARCHER_ID: AAN-5094-2020

Article received: 2021.07.27 18:27. Accepted: 2022.03.25 18:27
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2022.04.06

Rubric: Theme of the issue: Geopolitical shock. Analysis and new strategies

For citation:

Kupriyanov A.V. Russia and India: problems and prospects for cooperation. – Polis. Political Studies. 2022. No. 4. P. 63-76. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2022.04.06

The article was prepared within the project “Post-crisis world order: challenges and technologies, competition and cooperation” supported by the grant from Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation program for research projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development (Agreement № 075-15-2020-783).

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the contemporary state and prospects of India-Russia relations. There is a disagreement between scientists and politicians: the former believe that relations are stagnating, the latter that they are developing successfully. The author examines the Indian way of conducting foreign policy through the prism of methodological problems: he notes that decision-making on external relations is the prerogative of the prime minister. A distinctive feature of India’s foreign policy is its continuity, but the ongoing process of elite erosion is putting it at risk. Nevertheless, at this stage, India’s foreign policy is characterized by certain imperatives. The author identifies three main reasons for the deterioration of Russian-Indian relations: changes in the economic and international situation and problems in the formation of the political discourse. The second factor is the most decisive. The Soviet system of training orientalists failed to adapt to new realities. A similar situation, albeit for different reasons, has developed in India. As a result, a kind of “discursive blindness” has emerged, in which the political elites of both countries do not understand the benefits of expanding relations with each other, and the expert community has too little weight to ensure this process on its own. A typical example is the attitude to the concept of the Indo-Pacific Region. The new Cold War between the United States and China may aggravate this problem. But the author believes that the correct strategy, including the gradual development of economic ties, the development of its own Indo-Pacific strategy and support for domestic Indology, could help to solve it in the end. 

Keywords

India, Russia, Indo-Pacific, Cold War, Foreign Policy Discourse, China, USA.

 Full Text

Alagappa, M. (2011). International relations studies in Asia: distinctive trajectories. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 11(2), 193-230. https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcr007

Biswas, T. (2020). Pedagogical curricula and educational media: the malignancy of saffronised otherisation in India. Zoon Politikon, 11, 146-199. https://doi.org/10.4467/2543408XZOP.20.006.13008

Ciorciari, J.D. (2011). India’s Approach to Great-Power Status. The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, 35(1), 61-89.

Coedès, G. (1968). The indianized states of Southeast Asia. Honolulu: East-West Center Press. 403 p.

Das, P.S. (2006). Maritime violence in the Indian Ocean–Challenges and responses. In Indo-Japan Dialogue on Ocean Security (pp. 108-121). Ocean Policy Research Foundation. https://www.spf.org/en/_opri_media/publication/pdf/200703_061105_02.pdf

Ju, H. (2012). China’s maritime power and strategy: history, national security and geopolitics. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. 253 p.

Kaviraj, S. (2000). Modernity and politics in India. Daedalus, 129(1), 137-162. URL: https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/daedalus/downloads/Daedalus_Wi2000_Multiple-Modernities.pdf (accessed 12.05.2022).

Khurana, G.S. (2007). Security of sea lines: prospects for India–Japan cooperation. Strategic Analysis, 31(1), 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/09700160701355485

Manuel, A. (2011). A rising brand: India’s emerging power, implications for South Asia and U.S. Policy. In N. Burns, J. Price (Ed.), American Interests in South Asia: Building a Grand Strategy in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (pp. 159-176). Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/American-Interests-in-South-Asia.pdf

Metcalf, T.R. (2007). Imperial connections: India in the Indian Ocean arena, 1860-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press. 264 p.

Monsonis, G. (2010). India’s strategic autonomy and rapprochement with the US. Strategic Analysis, 34(4), 611-624. https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161003802802

Park, S.-H. (2017). Sovereignty and status in East Asian international relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 212 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316856420

Scott, D. (2009). India’s “extended neighborhood” concept: power projection for a rising power. India Review, 8(2), 107-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/14736480902901038

Sharma, R. (1989). Nehru’s world-view: an alternative to the superpowers’ model of international rela­tions. India Quarterly, 45(4), 324-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/097492848904500402

Singh, B. (1976). Indian foreign policy: an analysis. London: Asia Publishing House, 111 p.

Wojczewski, T. (2019). Identity and world order in India’s post-Cold War foreign policy discourse. Third World Quarterly, 40(1), 180-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1552079

Yurlov, F.N., & Yurlova, E.S. (2010). Istoriya Indii: XX vek [History of India: XX century]. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS. 920 p. (In Russ.)

Lebedeva, N.B. (2018). Indiiskii okean: vyzovy XXI v. i Indiya (ocherki mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii) [Indian Ocean: challenges of the 21st century and India (essays on international relations)]. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies RAS. 576 p. (In Russ.)

Lounev, S.I. (2017) Soviet-Indian relations (1955-1971): the birth of a friendship. MGIMO Review of International Relations, 2, 24-51. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2017-2-53-24-51

Mitrokhin, L.V. (1987). Indiya: vstupaya v vek XXI [India: entering the 21st century]. Moscow: Politizdat. 477 p. (In Russ.)

Mosyakov, D.V. (2019). Global’naya transformatsiya Tikhookeanskoi Azii i Rossiya [Global transfor­mation of Pacific Asia and Russia]. Moscow: White wind. 390 p. (In Russ.)

Strel’tsov, D.V. (Ed.) (2011). Vneshnepoliticheskii protsess v stranakh Vostoka [Foreign policy process in the countries of the East]. Moscow: Aspect Press. 336 p. (In Russ.)

Voskressenski, A.D. (Ed.). (2006). Politicheskie sistemy i politicheskie kul’tury Vostoka [Political systems and political cultures of the East]. Moscow: Vostok-Zapad. 687 p. (In Russ.) 

See also: