India’s Foreign Policy and the Non-Aligned Movement

• Context of India’s Independence: India gained independence in a very challenging international context marked by a devastating world war and grappling with reconstruction, the establishment of an international body (UN), the collapse of colonialism leading to many new nations, and the twin challenges of welfare and democracy for these new nations.
• Inherited Challenges: India also faced a legacy of international disputes left by the British government, pressures from Partition, and the existing task of poverty alleviation.
• Core Foreign Policy Aim: As a nation born after the world war, India decided to conduct its foreign relations with an aim to respect the sovereignty of all other nations and to achieve security through the maintenance of peace. This aim is echoed in the Directive Principles of State Policy.
• Foreign Policy Influences: Both domestic and international factors influence a nation’s foreign policy, similar to an individual’s or family’s behavior.
• Developing Countries’ Approach: Developing countries often pursue more modest foreign policy goals due to limited resources, focusing on peace and development in their own neighborhood. Their economic and security dependence on more powerful states can also influence their foreign policy.
• Cold War Division: Immediately after WWII, many developing nations chose to support the foreign policy preferences of powerful countries providing aid, leading to a division of the world into two clear camps: one led by the US and its Western allies, and the other by the Soviet Union.
• Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): India chose an innovative response to external challenges through non-alignment. The Cold War began as India framed its foreign policy.
• Constitutional Principles (Article 51): The Indian Constitution’s Directive Principles of State Policy on ‘Promotion of international peace and security’ include:
  • Promote international peace and security.
  • Maintain just and honorable relations between nations.
  • Foster respect for international law and treaty obligations.
  • Encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration.
• Indian National Movement’s Global Linkage: The Indian national movement was part of a worldwide struggle against colonialism and imperialism. It influenced liberation movements in many Asian and African countries. Nationalist leaders had contacts with leaders of other colonies, united in their common struggle. The creation of the Indian National Army (INA) by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during WWII was a clear manifestation of these linkages.
• Influence of Freedom Struggle Ideals: The noble ideals that inspired India’s struggle for freedom influenced the making of its foreign policy.
• Cold War Era Coincidence: India’s attainment of independence coincided with the beginning of the Cold War era, marked by political, economic, and military confrontation between the US and USSR blocs. This period also saw the establishment of the UN, creation of nuclear weapons, emergence of Communist China, and decolonisation.
• Nehru’s Role in Foreign Policy: Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, also served as Foreign Minister from 1946 to 1964, exercising profound influence in India’s foreign policy formulation and implementation.
• Nehru’s Foreign Policy Objectives:
  • Preserve hard-earned sovereignty.
  • Protect territorial integrity.
  • Promote rapid economic development.
  • Achieve these through the strategy of non-alignment.
• Opposition to Non-Alignment: Some Indian parties/groups, like the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and later the Swatantra Party, favored alignment with the US bloc due to its pro-democracy stance or opposition to communism, including leaders like Dr. Ambedkar.
• Non-Alignment as Policy: Independent India vigorously pursued non-alignment to achieve a peaceful world, reduce Cold War tensions, and contribute human resources to UN peacekeeping operations.
• Reason for Non-Alignment: India wanted to keep away from military alliances like US-led NATO and Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. Nehru advocated non-alignment as the ideal foreign policy approach, acknowledging it was a difficult balancing act and sometimes appeared imperfect.
• Balancing Act Examples: India led world protest against Britain’s attack on Egypt over Suez Canal in 1956 , but did not join public condemnation of USSR’s invasion of Hungary in the same year. Despite this, India generally took an independent stand and received aid from both blocs.
• US Unease: The US was unhappy about India’s independent initiatives and non-alignment. This caused considerable unease in Indo-US relations during the 1950s, further strained by India’s growing partnership with the Soviet Union. Pakistan joining US-led military alliances also contributed to this unease.
• Economic Development Strategy: India’s planned economic development, emphasizing import-substitution and developing a resource base, limited its economic interaction with the outside world.
• Afro-Asian Unity: Nehru envisaged a major role for India in world and especially Asian affairs, given its size, location, and power potential. His era saw increased contact between India and newly independent Asian and African states.
• Asian Relations Conference: India, under Nehru, convened the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947, five months before independence.
• Support for Decolonization: India made earnest efforts for Indonesia’s freedom from Dutch rule by convening an international conference in 1949. India was also a staunch supporter of decolonization and firmly opposed racism, especially apartheid in South Africa.
• Bandung Conference (1955): Held in Indonesia, this Afro-Asian conference marked the zenith of India’s engagement with newly independent Asian and African nations. It subsequently led to the establishment of the NAM.

First NAM Summit: Held in Belgrade in September 1961, with Nehru as a co-founder.