Reclaiming Strategic Subjectivity: Theorising India's Grand Strategic Doctrine under the Modi Order.
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Abstract
The role India plays in international politics in the twenty-first century calls for an assessment of the theoretical premises underpinning the country's emerging strategic posture. This research attempts precisely this – theorising about India's strategic doctrine under Prime Minister Narendra Modi (2014 to present), a tenure defined by unparalleled assertiveness, the revision of India's civilizational self-perception, and the strategic use of multi-alignment as a tool of statecraft. Using a three-dimensional theoretical framework including structural realism, constructivism, and postcolonial IR, the article concludes that none of the theories satisfactorily explains the epistemological complexity of the 'Modi Order' in Indian foreign and strategic policy. Rather, what is seen here is a unique doctrine that draws on both material considerations and civilizational aspirations, born of India's Hindu nationalist Weltanschauung and a desire to reclaim its place in the world within a liberal international order dominated by the West. The paper critically examines four core tenets of this new doctrine as follows: (i) the shift from Non-Alignment to strategic autonomy and multi-alignment; (ii) the recalibration of nuclear deterrence strategy and its effects on strategic stability in South Asia; (iii) the intensification of India's focus on the Indo-Pacific via Quad and maritime strategies; and (iv) the inclusion of civilisational identity, which is achieved through cultural diplomacy and the Jaishankar Doctrine, into the very fabric of India's grand strategic thinking. The article argues that the Modi Order is not a radical break from the legacy of Nehru, but neither a direct continuation nor a complex and conflictual compromise between the two that mirrors the inherent tensions of a state trying to become both a great power and a revisionist state within the frameworks of multilateral institutions. The inference has important theoretical implications for the discussion about rising states, regional hegemons, and the sustainability of the liberal international order in an age of pronounced multipolarity...
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