Was The Cold War Chiefly A Clash Of National Interests, With Ideology Only Secondary?

"Emerging Trends in India's South Asia Policy"

The foreign policy of a state is essentially understood as the way in which it interacts with other countries of the world. These externally directed policies are aimed at protecting a country's national interests, security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. These can be achieved through peaceful cooperation, through offensive-defensive principles of deterrence and power or threat balance, war and even ideological pre-eminence. Power- both hard and soft is used to achieve a nation's goals.

India has tremendous potential for soft power- its large diaspora, films, music, art and historical and cultural links with several countries around the world can all contribute to its soft power. India's regional policy after the 1990s is characterised by a shift from hard to soft power strategies. The malign hegemon of the 1980s is now trying to become a benign hegemon in the 1990s. One example of this is the Gujral doctrine. Gujral introduced the principle of non-reciprocity, emphasising that India not only had a bigger responsibility but should give more to the smaller neighbours than she would receive. This doctrine echoed domestic changes in India especially the economic liberalisation post 1991.

This shift towards soft power was not caused due to philanthropic reasons but due to various factors. First, India's hard power approach of the 1970s and 1980s was not very effective in achieving its goals. Despite her dominant resources India was not able to transform the military victory of 1971 over Pakistan into a durable solution of the Kashmir issue. The limitations of the hard power strategy also became visible in the 1990s when the conflict over Kashmir continued and sparked off bilateral crises. Therefore, it is not astonishing that India has strengthened soft power strategies like the demand for closer economic cooperation and proposals for confidence building measures. Second, the economic liberalisation after 1991 has added another new element into Indian foreign policy on the regional as well as on the international level. Finally, India's aspirations for major power status have given the region a new strategic value.

Within South Asia, India is the hegemonic power in terms of the size of its territory, population