India's Rise to Global Leadership

Louisa Lindsley

Western powers, since the dawn of the modern international system in 1648, have set the tone of how international relations are understood, established, and enacted, and the precedent of circumventing international laws. However, in the past two decades, the exponential and simultaneous rise of China and India has thrust the two nations into the limelight of international geopolitics. Many begin to wonder: Is this the century where the global arena changes? Could emerging and influential non-Western powers, China and India, rewrite international norms and introduce a more diverse, multipolar world order? China has already set itself apart as a longtime military and economic player, and is potentially set to join them in the upper-tier of the great non-Western powers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accelerated India’s rise through his assertive foreign policy, commitment to strategic partnerships, and enhanced regional leadership. Since taking office in 2014, Modi’s charismatic, authoritative, and unabashedly ambitious foreign policy agenda has had tangible effects on India’s reception within the global arena. In the World Trade Organization (WTO), India’s negotiation techniques have become more forceful under Modi’s leadership by consistently blocking potential agreements until its demands are met. The new strategy has helped India successfully establish itself as a major player in the WTO and gain a reputation as a self-confident international player. Moreover, Modi has increased the scope and breadth of India’s ‘strategic partnerships’ to include a wider array of powerful states to better counterbalance China’s swift rise to power. In further efforts to establish itself in the region, Modi significantly expanded India’s ‘Act East’ policy, with the purpose of ‘finding new international trade, commodity, and energy markets to enhance India’s economic growth and great power ambitions.’ This policy has been successful in ushering in an era of regional cooperation and development and conveys to the rest of the world that India is a powerful presence.

Under Modi, India has better mobilized its military and economic might, asserted itself in the region, and gained the attention and respect of many of the world’s ‘great powers’. However, one must question whether this is enough to transform India into a global leader alongside China, the United States, and other frontrunners. With constant border tensions with Pakistan, unresolved endemic poverty, and a catastrophic surge in their Covid-19 cases, India has much to prove to the global community before other countries accept it as a ‘great power’. For decades, India neglected launching much-needed overhauls in their healthcare and infrastructure in order to keep up with a burgeoning population. At last, the current Covid-19 wave has made woefully evident that the time is now or never for such a drastic undertaking. Although Prime Minister Modi has accelerated India’s development and thrust it further into the world stage, its domestic issues may take decades to successfully improve before India could realistically be offered a permanent veto position at the United Nations Security Council or warmly welcomed to summits like the G7. Though the 21st century will continue to see China and India’s rapid and simultaneous growth, India’s domestic issues may take time to mend and keep the South Asian powerhouse from attaining ‘great power’ status in the near future.