Doing our own thing

European arguments against American dominance are always appealing but India, like China or any large civilisational entity, must take an independent view of global developments. Those who lament alleged Indian equivocation on US invasion of Iraq must recall that on similar occasions in the past, be it the Soviet invasion of Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968 and Afghanistan 1979 or US aggression in Viet Nam and Latin America, successive Indian governments have taken ambivalent postures in public, unless India8217;s vital national interests were involved, as when China invaded Viet Nam 1979.

Indian ambivalence, sometimes couched in non-aligned rhetoric, was always on account of the fact that each government of the day gave priority to national interest, seeking diplomatic space to pursue the agenda of national economic development. As so many political economists have written over the years, the bipolarity of the Cold War era gave developing countries like India space in which to focus on national development. Diplomatic postures on international events were less often based on universal principles and more often meant to secure a wider margin for policy manoeuvre.

As much was conceded by non-other than the guru of realism Henry Kissinger who told an Indian audience once how he was summoned by US President John Kennedy to the White House to explain a particular Indian position and he told Kennedy that he thought a US president would do exactly what the Indian prime minister was doing, pursuing national interest. Kissinger repeated this analysis to President Clinton when India went nuclear and said the Indian prime minister was doing what he had to, while the US president had to do what he had to!

Grandstanding in the United Nations and empty pulpitry is not going to alter the logic of recent global developments. The US has emerged as the world8217;s most powerful military, economic, scientific, technological and cultural power that is also resource rich and has solved the problem of population size through a skill-based immigration policy aimed at attracting the best and brightest from across the world with a capacity to absorb them socially with a policy of multiculturalism. Europe has been unable to cope on all these counts.

Never before in history has one nation combined all the attributes of power. But my guru in strategic policy, K. Subrahmanyam, the Bhishmapithamaha of the Indian strategic policy community, adds a caveat. It is true that the US combines all aspects of power, he says, but it has not and no nation has yet acquired a monopoly on wisdom! What the US lacks is the wisdom to deploy its power, and that is manifest in recent events. In this lies hope for others. Indeed, every empire has crumbled due to a paucity of wisdom within rather than the unity of opposition without.

We may lack many attributes of power but mercifully our political leadership has so far demonstrated wisdom in dealing with external challenges. Even in the present international crisis we have pursued a considered and careful strategy that should serve our national interest well. One often wishes equal wisdom is summoned in dealing with challenges at home.

Wisdom we have, and perhaps more than some others. However, our weakness remains in our inability to as yet acquire the other facets of power, especially economic. Therein lies the challenge for India.

Irrespective of the military and political outcome of the Iraq war, the US will remain the world8217;s most powerful nation for some time to come. The only nations that will be able to challenge its supremacy will be those who are able to acquire these various facets of power. A multipolar world cannot be built on rhetoric at the UN or by sloganeering against the US. The transition from a unipolar world to a multipolar one will be based on the greater regional dispersal of the attributes of modern power. The question for us is what are we doing to acquire these attributes? Economic and human development, scientific and technological capability, industrial competitiveness, cultural liberalism and multicultural politics, an open and internally stable and free society.

It is only when other nations acquire these attributes of American power that US supremacy will be weakened and the world will be truly multipolar. We must stop worrying about whether the world will be unipolar or multipolar as a consequence of US unilateralism today. Irrespective of the global balance of power, India8217;s real challenge and opportunity remains at home.

Accelerated economic development, within the framework of a liberal political system, an open society that fosters the growth of knowledge-based development, and the ability of the government to raise the financial resources needed to invest in economic capabilities and infrastructure and, at the same time, in defence and military power. Such is the foundation on which individual nations can enable the emergence of a multipolar world. Raving and ranting against Pax Americana isn8217;t going to help! Consider why a veto-power like China remains so coy abroad and is busy at home pushing for more economic growth!

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