‘Manipal Dialogue’ launched with talk on India’s foreign policy

The Manipal University on Friday launched “Manipal Dialogue” as a prelude to the silver jubilee celebrations of the university, next year.

A statement issued here on Saturday said that the first lecture in the dialogue series was delivered by P.S. Raghavan, convenor, National Security Advisory Board, on “India's foreign policy in the 21st Century: From Non-Alignment to multi-alignment”, organised by the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations in collaboration with Ananta Centre.

The lecture focussed on the emerging dimensions of India’s foreign policy orientations aimed at creating a conducive external environment for India’s development. The end of the Cold War provided geopolitical impetus to India to realign its foreign policy priorities and interests in a multi-polar international system. The fundamental goals and objectives of India’s foreign policy were discussed in a comprehensive manner.

The major parameters and indicators of India’s rise in the international system was extrapolated, for instance, the role that India’s 1998 nuclear tests played in elevating India’s global position. India was now being heard in all the major global forums. Mr. Raghavan in his wide-ranging talk touched up on India’s relations with major powers such as the United States, Russia, China, the European Union as well as India’s political, economic, diplomatic and strategic engagement with South-East and East Asian, West Asian countries and the neighbourhood.

He emphasised the need to understand the geopolitical logic of India’s strategy abroad from a realist and pragmatic perspective.

Countries across the spectrum in international relations mould their foreign policies based on a cost-benefit analysis of their core interests and this fact should be the primary determinant of India’s foreign policy towards other countries, he said. The challenges posed to India’s national security objectives by the changing dynamics of geopolitics were discussed.

H. Vinod Bhat, Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, spoke.