Launching The New Political And Economic Trend India Sought To Pursue The Following Goals: Research Papers Example

India’s Look East Policy

In his article “India’s Look East Policy” Jacob Goldberg, journalist for About.com geography section dwells upon the phenomenon of a peculiar trend in India’s foreign policy, which the country initiated after the collapse of the Soviet Union whose close ally India had been prior to its disappearance from the world political map. In his article Goldberg tries to highlight the two major things. These are preconditions – both in internal and external policy - which made India seek new moves in its foreign policy (attempts which eventually resulted in creation of the ‘Look East’ strategy) and methods and concrete examples of implementation of this politics from the beginning of 90s until our days (Goldberg).
Factors that made India seek for new solutions in its foreign policy consisted in global transformations which took place on the international arena in the early 90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ironically, it seems that prior to that period India had done almost everything not to cooperate with the countries of the South-East Asia. According to what Rajiv Sikri, Indian diplomat says, the reasons of such cold mutual relations of India with other states were the following:
India, having been a part of the British Empire and preserving numerous colonial links even after becoming independent, for a long time after the 1947 remained Western-oriented, which made it stick to the West not only historically, but also economically and even politically. It was not earlier than the emergence of the non-alignment movement that India re-oriented from the West (though without breaking off any relations with the latter, just making them not the most prioritized ones) on its neighbors.
The nature of Indian economy in the post-1947 era was “insular and protectionist,” as ambassador says, which did not create healthy conditions for cooperation in economics and politics. India was more tied to the British economy, which was not only the result of India’s desire to stick to a stronger economy of the Western type, but also to a great extent had no other choice as during the colonial period the British Empire had done much to make India a part of its own economy.
The countries of the South-East Asia themselves did not look (and to be frank – still to a great extent do not) very attractive, especially, as I have already mentioned, in comparison with Western partners of India that have far stronger economies. In fact, there are two major problems with economy of the South-Asian states. Firstly, in virtue of not being industrial states they cannot offer competitive goods for markets; secondly, all of them produce generally the same goods, which is a great obstacle for increasing the volume of cooperation among them as trade in this case just does not make that much sense.
Another problem was politics, both on the global and regional scale. On the global scale the Cold War contributed much to the ideological division between India and South-East Asian states, preventing them from effective cooperation, while on the regional scale tensions between India and Bangladesh that had emerged yet in the colonial era, as well as political turbulences in Myanmar, the only overland route to the rest of the region from India, deprived India from effective means of potential cooperation with the countries of the region (Strachan et al.).
However, the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived India of so much of a pillar on which Indian economy had been founded that the latter had to seek for radical changes and alternatives in its foreign policy to stay adrift. And the solution India found consisted in attempting to build a dialogue with the South-East Asia – in new conditions this time. And this time it worked.

Achieving not only bilateral economic cooperation with South-East Asian countries but also entering the regional economic system through mechanisms of ASEAN. This goal can be evaluated as achieved as ever since the beginning of the ‘Look East’ policy India participated in ASEAN programs even not being a member of the organization. India was a ‘full-dialogue partner’ of ASEAN in 1995 at the Bangkok Summit and became a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996. Also, annual meetings in order to coordinate economic cooperation have been held since 2002. In 2009 the India-ASEAN free trade agreement was signed, and still India strives to go even further, pushing forward bilateral free-trade agreements with the other countries of the region (Haokip). In addition, India has significantly engaged in cooperation with other regional organizations, primarily The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation and The South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
India seeks to be a counterweight to China in the region and to challenge its position of the regional leader. Therefore, India’s cooperation with the South-East Asian states is to a great extent a means by which India wants to substantiate its regional leadership in the conditions when India has already recovered after the turbulences of the 90s and feels potent to lead other nations in political and economic terms. Being a fast-growing economy and a huge pool of workforce – just as China – India considers itself ready for a new, more ambitious spin of its development.
A very particular goal India pursues in its ‘Look East’ policy is the economic development of India’s own Northeastern territories. The problem with them is that it is much less developed than the rest of the country, which not only has led to significant economic problems, but also to political ones as a follow up of the unrest and protests in this region. Therefore, India tries not only to make up for the past underestimation of the region but also to engage it actively into the regional (and not just national) economy.
This all being said, if we take a look at the past twenty years of the Indian foreign policy we will see the major shift which was initiated by the Indian authorities back in 90s in the new international conditions that posed new challenges for India – the shift which keeps to a great extent defining major directions of Indian foreign policy even nowadays. Economic development, common social problems and external challenges that push the actors of the region towards each other all contributed to the creation of a new regional system of international relations, very robust and very effective in its synergy.
As of today, modern tendencies in the Indian foreign policy prove that the ‘Look East’ trend in it is likely to develop further. India’s ambitions about being regional leader will probably accentuate while its economy keeps growing and while the regional systems of economic cooperation shows every sign of becoming more complex and interdependent, with literally every state’s of the region economy constantly and swiftly developing. What will become of it is just a question of time so the world should keep an eye on the South-East Asia and watch closely the rise of a new regional power.
The map of India and South-East Asia displaying major Indian and ASEAN-states common projects in infrastructure. Picture courtesy of The Coloured Journal. Retrieved from: http://colouredjournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/dragon-breathes-on-neck-as-we-look-east.html on 7 March 2015.
ASEAN – India Summit held in Myanmar in 2014. Picture courtesy of Chairmanship of Myanmar of ASEAN in 2014.Retrieved from: http://www.asean2014.gov.mm/photo-album/12th-asean-india-summit-photos on 7 of March 2015

List of Works Cited

Goldberg, Jacob. “India’s Look East Policy.” About.com. N.d. Web. 07 March 2015.
Haokip, Thongholal. India’s Look East Policy: Its Evolution And Approach. 05 March 2014. Web. 07 Marh 2015.
India’s ‘Look East’ Policy Has Strategic Goals. 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 March 2015.
Strachan, Anna Louise, Harnit KaurKang and Tuli Sinha. India’s Look East Policy: A Critical Assessment. October 2009. Web. 07 March 2015.