INDO US RELATIONS

The central focus of the lecture is the relationship between the USA and India,

however, before understanding this relation it is necessary to understand America's

political framework and foreign relation policies in a global context. The primary aim

of the USA is to maintain its hegemony and primacy at a global front and all of its

political proceedings earth centred on this goal. It seeks to maintain a world order

beneficial to its state interest such as free trade and minimal economic competition. In

addition, as per America's ideology enhanced capacities of other Global powers are

viewed as a threat, such as the rising military as well as economic power of China.

There are numerous political advancement that China views as defensive, that the US

in its own ideology is views as offensive. Such current international viewpoints of

nations require critical analysis so as to predict a nation's behaviour in the future, on

this basis it is predicted that within five years in the future, India and China will be the

top players in global economy and America will sink down to third position. This

prediction is troublesome to the economists of the US and they seek to take action

immediately so as to prevent this and pursue their aim of maintaining primacy. In the

recent past the US has taken several steps towards building better International

relations so as to reap maximum benefits as per its own interest.

Next, the concept of political culture is explored, political culture refers to a mind-set

not about opportunity but limiting framework. This includes various components such

as the political strategies, these have to do with a country's political and military
leaders, the presumptions and preferences of these individuals create strategies that

form the basis of a country's outlook and policies regarding internal as well as external

affairs. It is evident that the US does not tolerate ideologies that are in contrast to

those of its own, this is illustrated through its opposition to the rising of the ideologies

of the Soviet Union in the past during the cold war and recently the development of

Chinese ideals. The US believes that once a form of political thought gains more

popularity than that of its own, it would lead to the former transforming into the

norm and generally accepted standard of behaviour, thus setting up an alternative and

mandatory system of ideologies and behaviour. Thus any upcoming nation’s rising and

contrasting political system automatically poses a threat the US’s grand strategy. Every

nation has a set of long term goals that are a result and reflection of its current

political standing, history and their aspirations for the coming years, the most

important and urgent of these refer to the nation’s grand strategy. As established

already, the US’s grand strategy is primarily focused on maintaining hegemony on a

political as well as economic level at an international front. A nation’s grand strategy

has to with its primary aim at the time, for a country that isn’t a strong global power, it

would consist of building a strong base for the nation first; including healthcare,

economic welfare and other such domestic interests, once these are fulfilled, the

nation can move on to pursuing greater and international grand strategies such as

aiming to be in the forefront of global events or be a critical component of

international coalitions and the global order. It is thereby evident that grand strategy

directly defines the sum of a nation’s assumptions about itself. Thus, the grand

strategies of India and US will naturally vary in numerous ways.

Next, the need to discuss political culture arises, this term, in the speaker’s words

refers to the mind-set that has the effect of limited attention, to less than the full

range of alternative behaviours, problems and solutions that are logically possible.

Simply put, it describes the general political norms and practices deemed acceptable

and preferred in the nation that it belongs to. Both India and the US have multiple

political cultures that have undergone several changes and gone in and out of popular

favour, however, there are certain cultures that come up in the popular ones time and

again. There are many political cultures prevalent in the US, some of these are; rugged

individualism or the concept that supports individualism. Unlike Europe’s system of

socialism and welfare of societies, the US expects an individual to work hard and

provide for himself instead of expecting the government to do it. The government in

turn, works towards the benefit of the state and each individual works hard in order to

be successful and make his own life good, this ends up making a prosperous society

without the government’s funding. The next culture is that of the Forgotten Man, this

is often misunderstood to be referring to a man who is marginalised, in reality, it refers

to a man who works hard, pays all his taxes and works well in cooperation with the

government, however, this noble and hardworking man ends up being forgotten

amidst the criminals, whiny complainers and group right workers, who without

making any contribution or working hard choose to complain and disrupt

governmental proceedings, constantly demanding more; this disrupts the

aforementioned man’s functioning and leaves him forgotten in a unfair manner.

Trump advertised himself as a supporter ad propagator of both of these cultures, he

also stands out as a nativist or someone who takes being a native resident of the US

extremely seriously. This implies that aims to put America first, close immigration and
permit no intervention when it comes to the nation’s internal matters, This transitions

into the next concept of global v/s national values, according to this, the US sees

outside identities as a threat to the authentic American identities, the nation values

personal engagement over outside engagement, thereby aiming to prioritise and prefer

those who were born in the US over those who arrived recently, they do this by giving

the former more rights, privileges and opportunities. In addition to this, the US is also

clearly against hyphenated identities such as Asian-American or India-American, ad

believe that anyone who arrives in the US should refer to themselves as a American,

also they are against the melting pot definition of those in the US, and believe that

everyone doesn’t immediately become one and that a salad bowl is a more apt

representation of those who constitute of the US’s population. Drawing from this

discussion about political culture, the concept of strategic culture comes up, this is a

key component in Indo-US relations and is based on a nation’s beliefs, history, societal

circumstances and preferences regarding politics, these, in turn shape said nation’s

foreign policy and position in at an international front. The US focuses on realism,

liberalism and constructivism when it comes their political cultures, these lead to a

focus on national interest and the power being concentrated at the centre, there is also

an emphasis on the importance of military power so as to propagate democracy,

something many other nations would frown upon. Liberal ways of focusing on

institutional norms and building on collective interests are also encouraged.

Constructivism, in contrast to these, constructivism, aims to shift focus from the state

or centre and on to the society, it explores diaspora relations, strategic restraint and

the responsible use of power. This mix of a centre as well as social focused culture has

a very strong influence on US’s relation with India.

The U.S.-India partnership is founded on a shared commitment to freedom,

democratic principles, equal treatment of all citizens, human rights, and the rule of

law. The United States and India have shared interests in promoting global security,

stability, and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity. The

United States supports India’s emergence as a leading global power and vital partner

in efforts to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is a region of peace, stability, and growing

prosperity. The strong people-to-people ties between our countries, reflected in a four

million-strong Indian American diaspora, are a tremendous source of strength for the

partnership. There are more than thirty bilateral dialogues and working groups, which

span all aspects of human endeavour, from space and health cooperation to energy

and high technology trade. These include thee U.S.-India Counterterrorism Joint

Working Group, which was established in 2000 and is among our oldest government

to government dialogues, as well as the Strategic Energy Partnership, Cyber Dialogue,

Civil Space Working Group, Trade Policy Forum, Defence Policy Group and many

more. India's perception of itself has been of a country destined to achieve major

power status. This was evident in the global vision of its first Prime Minister,

Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of India's post-independence foreign policy. This

pursuit of non-alignment was not so much as 'aligning' India with the Soviet Union as

an attempt not to enter the Western alliance system. Hence India, along with other

like-minded newly independent countries pursued a policy of not aligning themselves

with either power bloc. Even in recent times, India has sought to push for strategic

autonomy in the form of equal partnership, independence in foreign policy and a

focus on informal strategic partnerships. As already stated, India is expected to

become a one of the most important global powers in the near future, and it would
beneficial to both US and India to engage in meaningful and productive relations in

order to have a better political as well as economic outcome.

The lecture provided an insightful view of US and India past relationships, the current

dynamic of power as well as an exploration of future outcomes, now that the US has a

different leadership and India’s beginning to emerge as a strong contender to other big

nations. It is critical that one studies these political cultures, their effects on law

making as well as the shift in power play as times change these help predict future

outcomes aiding political scholars and political leaders alike.