Free rider

It is fashionable these days at the highest levels in New Delhi to say that India does not get much attention from the great powers. That in turn begs the question whether India has anything to say on the global issues of the day. Rather than whine about lack of international respect, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did on his way back from the recent G8 summit in Germany, he should ask why his government is so afraid of creative intervention in major debates. If he probes the problem of India8217;s weakening spirit of internationalism, the PM might recognise a simple truth. India today enjoys being a 8216;free rider8217; in the global order. A free rider by definition takes advantage of a system built by others and abdicates all responsibility to provide collective goods.

Consider, for example, India8217;s attitudes towards globalisation. Despite being one of the major beneficiaries of the unfolding historic change in the distribution international economic power, India continues to present itself as a victim of globalisation. New Delhi8217;s unchanging rhetoric against Western protectionism is strange, when India so vigorously denies market access to poorer neighbours. On global warming, which was the main issue at the G8 summit, India had little to add to its old refrain against the West, 8220;you were responsible for the mess, you clean it up8221;. India moans that it is the world8217;s biggest victim of terrorism and objects to Western double standards. Is New Delhi ready to speak up against terrorism in the Middle East? Does India have the gumption to criticise Iran for its support to extremist politics in the region? Meanwhile, some can question India8217;s silence on the genocide in Darfur and decades of military oppression in Burma. Questions can be raised: Is India8217;s posturing on non-intervention in the internal affairs of nations just a cover to protect its oil investments in the Sudan and strategic interests in Burma?

The world would surely listen to India the day it stops being a 8216;free rider8217; in the international system. In the past, India8217;s chatter on a just world order was noise, for New Delhi did not have the power to make a difference. As India transforms into one of the world8217;s largest economies and accumulates strategic weight, it has the potential to influence outcomes on key issues from global warming to promotion of political change in Burma. Realising that potential, however, involves correcting the vision deficit at the top of the Indian political establishment.