India and the United States

Abstract

India’s strategic embrace of the United States (US) in the early 2000s was the most consequential recent foreign policy drift for New Delhi, as ties between the two flourished in most domains ranging from trade and energy to defence and intelligence sharing. Nevertheless, their interaction in multilateral institutions remained ossified in the past as both countries are friends elsewhere, but foes at institutions such as the United Nations (UN). This chapter intends to assess why India’s strategic proximity with the US, and the western bloc more generally, is not reflected in their functioning in global governance institutions. The examination of their divergence in rule-making institutions is timely as these states increasingly desire to come together to uphold a rules-based order. Some of the answers also reflect a broader debate of whether a ‘Global India’ can be a truly responsible stakeholder in international governance on whom the West can rely on, and should invest in. The first part of the chapter attempts to quantify the gap and contextualize the divergence within the larger group of US strategic partners. The second part examines the reasons for India’s divergences in three major categories – Indian decision-making, thematic issues in global governance and state-specific positions. The concluding part outlines trendlines of cooperation. More importantly, it raises a crucial point that both states’ behaviour within the UN is dictated by their respective positions and not by the strength of their bilateral ties, indicating the relative impermeability of international institutions with their own dynamics.