India's Look West Policy: Significance and Challenges
In the early 1990s, India responded to the end of the Cold War with a new “Look East” policy, which it subsequently rebranded as “Act East” in 2014. Today, India has developed a “Think West” policy, focused on what those in the West call the Middle East. So which way is India thinking, looking, and acting today? Much as India’s “Look/Act East” policy reflected a shift in India’s worldview following the end of the Cold War, New Delhi’s reinvigorated engagement with the Middle East today reflects a deeper, ongoing shift in the country’s external engagement. This includes a more muscular and assertive foreign policy that is less piecemeal and more strategic in its approach. Embedded within this is an Indian proclivity to align itself more closely with the United States. The challenge will be sustaining this in what is arguably the world’s most polarized and bifurcated region, particularly given the embryonic nature of diplomatic initiatives like the I2U2 (Israel-India-United States-United Arab Emirates) and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. Further complicating India’s westward engagement is the country’s divisive, identity-driven domestic politics and the chronic risk of a spillover of instabilities in the Middle East into South Asia. In this video, Maneesha Tripathi discusses the significance and challenges of Look West Policy