Indian Foreign Policy and International Humanitarian Norms: A Role‐Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

Although role theory has been widely used in the field of foreign policy analysis, it has never been comprehensively applied to the study of Indian foreign policy. This article analyzes major foreign policy speeches of Indian decision makers in an effort to identify salient national role conceptions. In the second part of the article, it is shown how in the process of emerging international humanitarian norms, inherent tensions between different role conceptions become aggravated. Thus, Indian foreign policy makers find themselves in the middle of intra‐ and inter‐role conflicts. Taking the Responsibility to Protect and International Criminal Law as examples, the article examines the way in which decision makers have tried to mitigate and to evade conflicting role‐derived expectations.