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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Empty squares on a chessboard
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Empty squares on a chessboard

Empty squares on a chessboard

(Illustration by Jayachandran / Mint)Premium

(Illustration by Jayachandran / Mint)

Will the US carry out a change of foreign policy direction after a new president enters the White House early next year? It’s early days and much is in the realm of speculation. But it’s appropriate to step back and look at the last eight years of the Bush presidency. India should do that, if only to prepare for new challenges.

(Illustration by Jayachandran / Mint)

This may change. Protectionism is likely given a weak American economic performance. This, in turn, may give rise to an inward outlook as the electorate has turned against foreign “adventures" and views free trade (outsourcing, for example) as something that destroys local jobs and prosperity. India is likely to get a lukewarm, if not hostile, treatment.

From rough weather on the nuclear deal to reigniting Jammu and Kashmir at international fora to a much adverse trade regime, India is likely to confront a host of issues for which it stands unprepared. India has not only lost these material opportunities, but also something much more tangible and valuable: an opportunity to cement a strategic partnership with the US.

If that happens, it will have no one to blame but itself. A fractious polity that is unable to take decisions, even if they are in its national interest, is what characterizes India. Given the hostile geopolitical environment in South Asia with China in the east and Pakistan in the west, closer ties with Washington would have made these countries wary of opposing India. In the Bush administration’s worldview, India was much closer to it in terms of “values" (democracy being a prime one) than any other country in South and South- East Asia. That’s over now.

What’s the way ahead? First and foremost, it’s important to delink foreign policy from domestic political concerns. The nuclear deal fell victim to them. There are technocratic means to evaluate foreign policy options, ones that amply take care of national interest. But that will have to await an elusive bipartisan (Congress and BJP) political consensus.

Has India lost an opportunity? Write to us at views@livemint.com

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Published: 10 Jun 2008, 12:03 AM IST
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