India’s Role in Shifting Global Governance

Recently the 77th General Assembly took place where the core of India’s participation was a ‘reformed multilateralism’ through which the United Nations Security Council should reform itself into a more inclusive organization representing the contemporary realities of today. India’s call for this structural overhaul of global multilateral institutions incorporates institutional accountability and a wider representation of the developing countries as according to India the current architecture is anachronistic and ineffective. 

Also it is “perceived as deeply unfair, denying entire continents and regions a voice in a forum that deliberates their future.” Though this has been a regular feature of Indian interventions at UNGA, there is a new anxiety about emerging global challenges and the inability of the extant UN system to respond adequately to them. The fault lines between various powers are sharpening and the voices of the poorest, most vulnerable nations are increasingly lost in the din of this great power contestation.

Harsh V Pant recognized certain UN’s fault lines that demonstrate its ineffectiveness to deal with current global challenges. 

• One is that the COVID-19 pandemic was a weak moment for UN’s multilateralism as it highlighted the UN’s institutional limitations when countries closed their borders, supply chains were interrupted and almost every country was in need of vaccines.

• Second, UN-led multilateralism has been unable to provide strong mechanisms to prevent wars. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is a case in point. With the West boycotting Russia, the veto provision of the UNSC is expected to reach an even more redundant level than in the past.

• Finally, China’s rise, belligerence and aggression which has been on display through its actions in the South China Sea, the Indo-Pacific region, and now increasingly globally, have also underscored the limitations of UN-style multilateralism.

At this juncture of global politics, India is effectively acting as a bridge on some serious but divisive issues confronting the UN Security Council (UNSC). This is not only because of India’s growing capabilities and its rising aspirations to play a larger role but also because of how the world today perceives New Delhi’s ability to bridge this divide. Consistent with the changing times, India’s call for reform of the UNSC has grown in the past few years. Holding meetings with G4 and L-69 group. The L-69 group’s vast membership spread over Asia, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, and Small Island Developing States could bring about a wider global consensus on the issue of the UNSC reforms. At the same time India is searching for new frameworks for global governance while pursuing an agenda of reformed multilateralism in the UN. 

Beyond the UN, the Indian Foreign ministers Minister’s participation in plurilateral meetings of the QUAD (Australia, India, Japan, the U.S.), IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Presidency Pro Tempore CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), India-CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and other trilateral formats, such as India-France-Australia, India-France-the United Arab Emirates and India-IndonesiaAustralia underlines India’s search for new frameworks of global governance, amidst growing frustration with the extant multilateral order. 

As Mr. Jaishankar has rightly highlighted in his remarks at the UN, at a challenging time for the world order, New Delhi continues to affirm its commitment to “diplomacy and the need for international cooperation”. Considering India’s aspirations in the current chaotic global order and its demands for reformed multilateralism, India is changing its foreign policy priorities also. These were highlighted by Jaishankar in 77th UNGA session.

• First, he made it clear that today’s India is not seeking external validation in the conduct of its diplomacy. The India of today, reflected in its confident and resurgent society, is willing to take on greater responsibilities. From green growth and better connectivity to digital delivery and accessible health, India is a provider of global public goods far beyond its immediate periphery.

• Second, this rise of a new proactive diplomatic posture has happened at a time when some of the most powerful nations in the world have moved away from their responsibilities. There are global inequities in the system that disproportionately impact the global South even as they are not responsible for most of these problems. The pandemic, the economic distress and the Ukraine crisis are cases where the powerful have played a key role in dismantling the extant structures of governance.

• Third, India made its stand on the Ukraine conflict clear, once again, in the above context by reiterating the need to uphold the UN charter and international law. This is important to take the debate away from the binary of the West and Russia to the wider world that is reeling under the strain of a needless conflict. By projecting itself as a voice of reason, India could once again reiterate that “this is not an era of war or of conflict” but “a time for development and cooperation.”

India’s share of global gross domestic product (GDP) already stands at 7%. The Indian economy has stayed resilient partly because of government intervention and partly because of its unique structure.

According to Harsh V Pant this economic trajectory of India also gives it a distinct place in global politics today. Also, India’s ties with the West have grown significantly amid all the negative press that India has received due to its stand Ukraine crisis. Even as the India-West mutual courtship continues, India is maintaining its partnership with Russia, New Delhi wants to keep channels of communication open with Moscow, given their defense ties as well as regional security convergence. But also, because New Delhi would like to make an eff ort till the last moment to ensure that the China-Russia axis does not become a fool-proof alliance. China too finds itself in a bind and is facing India’s stiff resistance to its aggressive pursuit along the Line of Actual Control. India’s standing up to China has ignited a broad pushback across the Indo-Pacific and beyond. And with a plethora of domestic challenges being faced by Beijing, there is once again a premium on internal consolidation. India, as a consequence, finds itself in a ‘geopolitical sweet spot’ that it should make the most of. A prudent nation should be able to identify opportunities in the existing structure of global politics and shape its external engagement accordingly in pursuit of its interests.

For India today, the most important priorities are a stable and inclusive world order and a serious challenge is the rise of China that India is facing. China’s growing dominance could lead it to carve its own multilateral matrix circumventing the West, economically and strategically. China’s control of multilateral organizations, including the UN, is only increasing — most recently seen in the unofficial pressure China employed on the former UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, to stop the release of a report by the UN Human Rights Council on the condition of Uyghurs in China. Moreover, China’s unabashed use of veto power against India continues at the UN. Harsh V Pant suggests that New Delhi’s first priority should be to internally consolidate its capabilities, so that it can stand up to Beijing’s nefarious designs on a more sustained basis. India should continue its demand for inclusive and reformed multilateral order through various world governance institutions. Also, India should pursue its national interest not just becoming a balancer in political equations of various major powers rather should emerge a significant geopolitical player. As a large part of the world sours on China, India must become an attractive partner. This requires making some choices that New Delhi has often been shy of.

According to Harsh V Pant the basis of these choices should not be to make the world multipolar or enhance any chimerical strategic space. The only basis should be how these choices strengthen India’s long- term capabilities to emerge as a singular player on the global stage in its own right. This is an inflection point for the global order and for India. The country is on the cusp of achieving something dramatic: becoming not only a toptier economic power that is also a multicultural democracy, but also a top geopolitical player that can lead and not simply balance.