Introduction
It is believed that global politics is everchanging; and is run by everchanging objectives. Nations connect and disconnect with each other at bilateral as well as multilateral levels depending on the concurrent international situations. We live in a complex world indeed where complex interdependence keeps altering the priorities of nations and vice versa. However, in this changing world, if something remains constant, it is the national interest of a nation. It not only decides and devises its foreign policy, it also works as north star in the everchanging global situations.
Today, we are living in the world of globalization and technology. This world is driven by information that is getting exchanged among people as well as governments without any physical borders. It is a different world where new technology like Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Blockchain and so on have made such things possible that we could not even imagine in our wildest dreams earlier. For example, who imagined that one day, we would be able to complete all our banking related activities online itself, or would be chatting with Alexa or Google Assistant to find a way or listen to songs or get an answer to any and every query? Then, the mobile revolution has shown as another transformed world where social media has eradicated physical boundaries. Today, we must accept, we are living in an AI enabled world of Google maps, Facebook, Instagram and more and this has changed the way we used to think as well as our priorities.
Since the time Joseph Nye coined the term ‘Soft Power’ in 1990 in his book ‘Bound to Lead’[1], the world has indeed witnessed major changes in the understanding of ‘power’ where the realist perspective of ‘power’, that is, hard or military power, has been challenged potentially by the ‘soft’ or ‘newer’ elements of power. Why this change in the definition and understanding of power? Basically, the international politics underwent a significant change since the first world war and witnessed transforming changes after the cold war era. On one hand, the world transmuted through the new concept of ‘globalization’, on the other; newer topics such as the feminism, sustainability and more were getting added to the study of global politics. All of a sudden, internet and computers took over the world. To define and live through this major transformation, the concept of soft power was needed to define the non-hard-power assets influencing global politics.
Thus, the understanding about ‘power’ went through a major transformation and today the power of a country cannot be measured on its military or territorial power alone. Soft power has become a crucial element for any country to maintain and enhance its position in the global system and ensure its national interests remain secured. The world order in present times seems to be portraying those countries in the top-most order, which have shown their impeccable economic and cultural capabilities other than their military power. No wonder, India has also achieved the brand image of an emerging global power because of its soft power.
In fact, soft power has empowered many developing countries, which achieved independence from their colonial masters in the era of 40s and 50s and even in the later years, in achieving a significant place in the world order. India is a classic example, which leveraged its soft power in executing its foreign policy aptly to not only secure its national interests, but also in changing its brand image of a weak, developing nation to a strong, emerging power in the world. India also used its soft power to develop and strengthen its bilateral relations with my countries such as the US and achieved a remarkable place on the multilateral platforms such as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), G7, G20, and so on. Today, it is considered as a strategic power at the global level and is involved in new establishments such as India, Israel, US and UAE (I2U2) to work on global as well as regional issues. In present times, Indian foreign policy has achieved accolades for maintaining good strategic relations with both the rival countries, Russia and the US. Today, India stands neutrally when it comes to joining any ‘bloc’ or ‘lobby’, and its soft power has played an intrinsic role in this big achievement.
India is also contributing meticulously in achieving the global objectives of developing effective counter-terrorism initiatives, ensuring global peace and security, promoting multilateral economic cooperation, developing innovative and sustainable technologies, working for climate change containment and so on. There are various aspects of the Indian soft power, and these aspects have been leveraged significantly in past few years to achieve a noteworthy place in the present world order. Soft power has also been proved as a potential tool for Indian foreign policy to open new possibilities in international relations and achieve its strategic objectives.
The concept of Soft Power
It is very important to understand what is soft power. In the words of Joseph Nye, “Soft power is the ability to obtain preferred outcomes by attraction rather than coercion or payment.”[2] When compared to hard power that consists of the military power, soft power is called ‘soft’ because it is associated with the historical, cultural, economic and diasporic elements and strengths of a nation. It could be the language, literature, or food, or cinema or people that can make a country noteworthy for the other nation, so much so, that the country can influence the other country and secure its national objectives through such ‘soft’ elements. It has been observed that the elements of soft power have also been used in changing and influencing personal, political, social and public opinion through and lobbying through powerful political and non-political organizations (diaspora), and through economic influence. The kind of world we live in today, shares knowledge and much more irrespective of the physical boundaries across the nations. In this neo-liberal, constructivist world, hard power could still be a reality to keep the boundaries safe, the soft power plays a critical role in deciding the place of a nation on various multilateral platforms. Pakistan can be considered as a classic example here. Despite being promoted by the US in initial years of its independence and separation from India; and later by China, Pakistan could not emerge as a powerful nation on the global arena. Instead of growing politically, socially and economically, Pakistan has shown a sharp decline in its socio-political-economic progress curve in all these years. Today, it is considered as a failed state by many, for its flawed and flopped political system being run by its military, lack of education and healthcare systems, and its weak diaspora. Pakistan also earned the brand image of a country that promotes terrorism in different parts of the word, and hence despite being a strong country in terms of its military powers, it is a rogue state for most of the nations in the world today. Basically, the countries that realized the potential of soft power, and leveraged the same throughout the years since the end of the cold war, could reap multiple benefits in global politics.
Although the concept of soft power started taking the central stage in the study of global politics after the cold war period; we can clearly see the usage of the concept of soft power much before it was coined as a term by Joseph Nye in 1990. For example, India leveraged Buddhism as a major tool of soft power to build and maintain friendly relations with East and South Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and so on post-independence. India also used its highly developed education system and universities like Nalanda, Vikramshila, Takshshila and more to attract students and teachers from across the globe in ancient times. This helped India of that times in maintaining amicable relations with various countries of that time. The other example is how the US used Hollywood movies as a major tool of soft power to keep a psychological edge over former USSR and its allies during cold war. The US created a series of superheroes to ‘save’ the world from the soviet ‘villains’ throughout the period of cold war. It also succeeded in creating a ‘hero’s’ brand image for itself while establishing former USSR and its allies as ‘villains’.
However, we cannot deny that it was Nye who formally coined the term in his 1990 book, “Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power”. In this book, he wrote: “when one country gets other countries to want what it wants might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants.”[3]
Soft Power: A Key Instrument in Global Politics in Present Times
In today’s times, soft power has been used by countries to achieve their strategic objectives such as economic growth, political stability and amicable relations with other countries. In the realist world of arms race, terrorism and lobbies to maximize power, soft power provides a parallel view and way to maintain cordial international relations through one’s soft power assets or elements thus promoting collaboration and international cooperation. Multiple multilateral platforms have been built based on the components of soft power that enable countries to come up together, discuss various issues peacefully and collaborate to achieve prioritized global objectives like fighting the global war on terror, climate change containment, ensuring energy and food security and so on.
The soft power has many elements such as its culture, cinema, food, religion, diaspora, language and literature and so on that work as a carrier or vehicle in exercising other elements of the soft power of an actor (country) over other actors. Bringing the context of soft power in Indian context, the Indian soft power has indeed been influential and successful in working as vehicle of its foreign policy across the globe in past few years to help India in achieving its strategic objectives. During the testing times of Covid 19, when India helped over 100 countries with the supply of its home-made vaccines, many countries like Brazil appreciated its help wholeheartedly. This not only started a new chapter, ‘vaccine diplomacy’ in the study of diplomacy and foreign policy, it also helped in revamping India’s bilateral relations with many countries including Brazil.
The Influence of Indian Soft Power
Although India leveraged its soft power very well in the pre-colonial times, it took many years for India to realize how it can use various elements of soft power to emerge as a global power in modern times. “In the initial years after attaining the independence, for a country like India that conceded its foreign policy based on the fancies of its colonial master, Britain, for some time, its foreign policy kept evolving since its independence. At the time of independence, when the entire world was upended on the dreadful impact of World War II and beginning of the Cold War, India developed its foreign policy under the leadership of its first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was immensely impressed by Socialism. Looking at the socio-political-economic situation of India at that point in time, it was expedient if not necessary for India to stay away from the Cold War politics and lobbies. Hence, Non-alignment was a major constituent of its foreign policy. India always declared that it is not a part of any ‘bloc’, however many scholars argue that it always stood with the USSR bloc due the ideological inclination of Pt. Nehru towards Socialism. However, India devised its policy keeping its national interest in view. Apart from facing various socio-economic challenges being a developing nation, it was also facing a big challenge on its border and national security from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It needed economic and technological help as a priority. Keeping US’ inclination towards Pakistan and its capitalist, expansionist ambitions in view at that point in time, Indian Foreign Policy took its shape accordingly where it established cultural and other connects with the USSR and China. Later, despite its honest efforts to keep the ties intact, after being deceived from China multiple times, it finally disconnected with China eventually. Although the diplomatic relationship continued with China. Presently, the drivers have changed but the decisive factor for Indian Foreign Policy remains the same, national interests and objectives of India. In Nehruvian era, the world was witnessing Cold War and hence it was all about the realist approaches of using traditional power to ensure one’s national interests and security. The socialist countries were trying to block the capitalist wave; however, democracy was never an agenda for these countries. On the other hand, the capitalist countries were promoting democracy; however, they were still looking for the developing and underdeveloped nations to be the target for their ambitious plans of expanding their feet globally. Gradually, with the wave of globalization and highly advanced technology during late 90s, the world witnessed a big change where neo-liberal and constructivist objectives along with their drivers started realizing. All of a sudden, open economy and huge global market made a big change in the strategies and policies of different countries, and India was no different. On the other hand, technologies made it possible for people to connect without any physical boundaries, and unimaginable changes occurred both in the lifestyle of people as well as world politics.”[4]
Presently when we observe, Indian foreign policy seems to be in a very dynamic mode presently, and the role of its soft power cannot be neglected. On one hand, India has been able to open new chapters of its bilateral relationship with countries like the US, Brazil, Britain and so on to work on the collective objectives, on the other it has been able to achieve an outstanding place on multilateral platforms like the UN, QUAD and others because of its soft power. Indian diaspora has played a very important role in it, which is a major constituent of soft power.
As the meaning of the term Diaspora suggests, the Indian migrants make the ‘diaspora’ who were scattered in multiple directions on the world for different reasons. As per a report of the United Nations, India has the largest diaspora population in the world with 18 million Indian people living in different parts of the world in 2020. According to the report 'International Migration 2020 Highlights', by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, a huge number of Indian diasporas lives in the United Arab Emirates (3.5 million), the United States (2.7 million) and Saudi Arabia (2.5 million). Other than these countries, Indian diaspora also has a strong presence in Canada, Oman, Australia, Kuwait, Qatar, Britain and Pakistan.[5]
Coming to the role of Indian Diaspora as soft power, the first aspect to be considered is about how the economic power of India has been improved through its Diaspora. During the colonial times, Indian Diaspora was seen to be limited to the labor-class migrants across the globe. Post-independence also, Indian migrants were limited to labor-based work and were expected to get adjusted to their host country’s culture. It was post 1990’s, the phase of liberalization in India, when things started getting changed. Due to the changed economic policies, India started considering the power of its Diaspora from a different perspective. India started leveraging its Diaspora in terms of public diplomacy to boost investments, trade and good relations with countries like the US. It was also the time when the Information Technology (IT) industry flourishing across the globe, and the general identity of Indian Diaspora started getting transformed as the Indian software engineers took over the world with their preeminent professional skills. Today, we see many Indians at the top-most positions in Multi-National Corporations (MNCs). This indeed added to the power of Indian Diaspora as soft power in global politics.
It has been a long journey for Indian diaspora across the world to grow itself to empower its homeland in all aspects. In the formative years of their migration to different countries, especially the West Asian ones, Indian migrants were mostly consisted of the skilled labors. Therefore, their role in shaping the policies or the politics of their host countries was almost nil. Gradually, this phenomenon changed, and the Indian diaspora evolved with highly educated and professional class who started playing an active and dynamic role in shaping the policies of their host countries. Canada, the US and Britain can be quoted as classic examples here. This kind of diaspora and their role in their respective host countries also helped India in evolving its bilateral relations with such countries.
Indian diaspora also helped India in growing its economic power when the wave of liberalization and globalization took over the world in the era of 90s. “The NRIs have lent strength and stability to the management of Indian economy. According to the 2014 World Bank Report, remittances from the Indian overseas community are the highest in the world at $70 billion, followed by China at $64 billion and the Philippines at $28 billion. During the periods of foreign exchange crisis, policy managers have invariably turned to the NRI community to enhance capital flows, secure marketing of India Development Bonds and other Special NRC schemes.[6]
India and Canada can be quoted as an example of how Indian diaspora has enabled India to establish fantastic trade relationship with Canada. “The trade between India and Canada has observed an incredible increase of 62 per cent since 2015, making India one of the fastest growing export markets of Canada. Canadian Commercial Minister, Andrew Smith mentioned that Canada would be helping India in making its ‘Make in India’ mission successful by helping it in new job generation. Canada is also looking forward to work in the areas of security, education, aviation, agriculture and more to further strengthen its relationship with India and ensure economic growth for both the nations. He stated during his visit to India in 2020 that, “We have a very good relationship in the trade and investment space for the last couple of years. It is important in the bilateral trade relationship. This year, we are on a trajectory to go up by another billion dollars in two-way trade. It is because Canada has invested in India with the Trade Commissioner Service."[7]
“India has announced its ambitious flagship schemes such as Skill India, Smart Cities, Make in India, Digital India and so on for creating a new, developed and powerful India by 2022. The role of various Indian states has remained significant in fetching a huge sum of FDIs to realize the vision of new India. Countries like UAE, China, Japan, Korea and US have invested a huge amount in India. Japan has also agreed to receive 10,000 Indians for skill development training whereas another 30, 000 will get trained in Japanese style of manufacturing. Countries like Japan are helping India in developing its infrastructure through various engagements with the respective states. For example, Japan has agreed to fund the construction of India’s first bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad route saving the travel time from seven to two hours. Then the countries such as France, Germany, Japan, and European Investment Bank have also agreed to finance various railways and Metro projects in India. Similarly, there are commitments to develop Smart Cities in India from these countries.[8]
Coming to the cultural aspect of the Indian soft power, it is needless to explain the diverse and rich culture as well as knowledge of India. Since ancient times, Indians have been known for their unparalleled knowledge and proficiency in various forms of art and literature. Be it Indian diverse performing arts or world-known literature or Ayurveda or Yoga or rich tradition of textiles, India has been considered as a pioneer across the globe. Apart from being known as one of the oldest civilizations of world, India also made impeccable contribution to the world in the domain of science and technology in the pre-colonial period. From adding Zero to Mathematics to enriching the world of metallurgy by introducing the technology of making steel and smelting zinc; to conducting successful cataract and plastic surgery back in 6th B.C.; to the scientific study of Universe and planets, India was known as a pioneer of ground-breaking innovations in the world of science and technology.
“Whether it is soft-mannered Mahatma Gandhi, a saint among politicians and a politician among saints, or India’s spiritual and cultural depth, its vast landscape, its diversity, its shibboleths, all these sometimes benumb a rational mind. The epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are compared with Illiad and Odyssey, and Kalidasa, the great Sanskrit playwright and poet, is compared with Shakespeare and Kautilya with Machiavelli. Kautliya’s disciple, Ashoka, once known for his aggressive foreign policy and rule of the sword, later abandoned his aggressive policy and cultivated soft power. He converted to Buddhism, and promoted it in different regions. India’s multiple names also reveal its soft power imagery.”[9]
Since the times it got independence, despite the availability of this strong asset of cultural diplomacy or tools of soft power, India could not leverage this potential asset the way it started leveraging post 2014. Since 2014, when Shri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, the country started paying a special focus on its cultural power and started rebranding itself across the globe. The country celebrated when in 2014 the United Nations adopted the 21st of June as International Yoga Day. The government increasingly focused on its multicultural ethos, and its ancient practices like Yoga and Ayurveda through official campaigns, foreign visits and its Diaspora. Indian government has been instrumental in promoting various rich cultural traditions of India like Yoga and Ayurveda in the world. The initiatives prompted many tourists also to visit India frequently than earlier, invest and “do their part to promote India’s interests even while residing outside India”.[10]
Another powerful instrument of Indian soft power are its cinema and food. We can understand the power of Indian food by the fact that Butter Chicken is one of the national dishes of England. Most of the Indian restaurant owners in Europe are doing well, and while belonging to Indian community, they add to the power of Indian Diaspora in influencing the politics. During the dreadful times of covid 19 in 2020, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison tweeted about his fascination for Indian Samosa, and this very well proved fruitful for the bilateral relations for India and Australia as both the countries signed significant joint programs during this time.
Indian cinema has also helped India in reaching out to the world with its philosophy of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam”. Who can forget the era of Raj Kapoor and his films that promoted various social causes? He portrayed India as a country of rich-hearted people who are loving by nature in his movies. He shown the challenges faced by Indian society as well as the rich culture of the country once known as the ‘golden sparrow’. His movies became blockbuster hits in the then USSR and West Asia. People loved him and his movies. This helped India in promoting people-to-people ties and cultural relationships with the countries where Raj Kapoor was loved. Since then, Indian cinema has always been loved in most of the American, European, African, Latin American, West Asian and Asian countries alike.
During an event organized in May 2022 on Indian cinema and soft power in Mumbai, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur mentioned how Indian cinema has the potential of playing a significant role as an element of Indian soft power. “ Today Hindi films are released simultaneously across the globe and its stars are recognized faces in international advertising and entertainment space. Even the far-flung African countries are fascinated by our movies and music. We know about countries like Nigeria where the Nollywood market takes a lot of inspiration from Indian Cinema; Bollywood has also expanded in unchartered countries like Latin America; our cinema is making inroads into counties like South Korea, Japan, China.” He also explained the possibilities in the domain of Indian cinema being an important vehicle of Indian diplomacy. “We need to promote a Public-Private Partnership to brand India using the power of our film fraternity and the power of India to create the content and become the content sub-continent of the world”.[11]
Apart from strengthening and promoting people-to-people ties, Indian cinema also contributes to the economy and tourism domains, and thus has the future possibilities of collaborating with the countries that can work on joint ventures to boost economy.
However, despite being equipped with knowledge, cultural richness, digital edge, economic power and so on, Indian soft power still faces a major challenge in terms of achieving the objectives of India through or as the soft power. This challenge is the perspective of realism through with the global politics still runs the show. We can discuss endlessly about the constructivist approach of sharing the knowledge without borders and promoting economic growth being liberal through mutual cooperation, but we can not neglect the major global challenges related to border security, nuclear threats, terrorism, and other associated issues. Also, for past five months, entire world is witnessing the horrors of Ukraine-Russia conflict. Despite having a strong cultural connection and shared history, Russia attacked on Ukraine to stop it becoming a part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a western lobby backed, military alliance, established during the cold war. Of course, Russia cannot allow NATO and the US to reach its doors. On the other hand, Ukraine has been trying to assert its identity as a sovereign nation. This entire conflict, eventually turned into a war, has given birth to many repercussions. The world seems to be divided into two blocs again, other theatres of aggressions and war also seem to be a reality now, major energy, food and humanitarian crisis have occurred, and most of all, Russia has re-established the significance of hard power.
Still, we cannot neglect the fact that The Indian Diaspora has undoubtedly promoted and been successful in endorsing Indian culture and other elements of Indian soft power in the recent times especially after the IT and Social Media boom. Indian Diaspora has been instrumental in taking the Indian Foreign Policy to new levels.
For example, India’s permanent membership to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) can become a reality with support from the diaspora. Indian Diaspora has been working on this objective for quite some time. The result reflects in the recent positive developments. According to Article 108 of the Charter, for a UN reform an affirmative vote from two-thirds of its members and support from the five permanent members is required. India has demonstrated its diplomatic influence with the reappointment of Justice Dalveer Bhandari to the International Court of Justice in November 2017, when it secured two-thirds of the votes at the UN. Apart from political pressures and ministerial and diplomatic level lobbying, India can leverage its diaspora to influence states such as Canada and Mexico to support India’s membership.[12]
Conclusion: The Indian soft power, coupled with the continuous efforts of the present government to promote the same to realize strategic objectives and enhance its power in global politics, present a pleasant picture for the Indian scholars of International Relations. However, the role of Indian soft power has to be considered as a core component of its diplomatic initiatives. All the core soft power elements of Indian foreign policy can be enhanced through more engaging policies from the government’s side. It is about both, empowering the cultural and economic power of India and enhancing their leverage quotient. Indian government has been working on this as well wherein Indians living in different part of the worlds got ease in terms of the processes for traveling, working, citizenship and more. On the other hand, improvement in implying the elements of Indian soft power like culture, knowledge and so on has also been under progress.
To conclude, we need to keep thinking through the innovative ways from constructivist point of view for the Indian soft power to be used in practicing the Indian foreign policy successfully across the globe. However, we also need to keep the realist challenges especially related to the national security in mind. The soft power may come out with the solutions while certainly strengthening international cooperation much required in today’s global politics.
1. Joseph Nye, Soft power: the origins and political progress of a concept, (Palgrave Communications: 21 February 2017), https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms20178.
References
2. Ibid.
3. Joseph Nye, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power(London: Basic Books, 1990).
4. Anshu Joshi, “Indian States as the Determinants for Indian Foreign Policy”, World Focus, (May 2021): 87-92.
5. “At 18 million, India has the world's largest diaspora population”, Economic Times, (21 January 2021), https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/migrate/at-18-million-india-has-the-worlds-largest-diaspora-population/articleshow/80290768.cms.
6. NK Singh, “Diaspora could become vehicle of India's soft power”, Hindustan Times, (23 March 2017), https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/diaspora-could-become-vehicle-of-india-s-soft-power/story-8hdAohe2gzeDPhdVb2mx0M.html
7. “India-Canada trade rose to 62% in past 5 years: Canadian Minister Smith”, Business Standard, (20 January 2020), https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/india-canada-trade-rose-to-62-in-past-5-years-says-canadian-min-andrew-smith-120012901370_1.html in Anshu Joshi, “Trade Relations between India and Canada: An Era of Growing Synergies”, Diplomacy and Beyond Plus, (August 2021), p.17.
8. Achal Malhotra, “India's Foreign Policy: 2014-19: Landmarks, achievements and challenges ahead”, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, https://www.mea.gov.in/distinguished-lectures-detail.htm?833 In Anshu Joshi, “Indian States as the Determinants for Indian Foreign Policy”, World Focus, (May 2021), pp.87-92.
9. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, “From a latent to a ‘strong’ soft power? The evolution of India’s cultural diplomacy”, Nature.com, (Palgrave Communications: 2016), https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms201691
10. Ibid.
11. “Cinema can play a major role in nation branding initiative-Anurag Thakur”, PIB Mumbai, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1822711.
12. “Rajya Sabha Question and Answer-India’s Permanent Membership of UNSC”, A Report of Questions and Answers, Ministry of External Affairs, India, (1 December, 2016), https://www.mea.gov.in/rajya-sabha.htm?dtl/27725/QUESTION_NO1775_INDIAS_PERMANENT_MEMBERSHIP_OF_UNSC
