Is India a New Emerging Great Power?

Abstract

A key issue discussed by observers in world politics is the question if India is becoming a new Great Power. Already six years ago, the British magazine ‘The Economist' asked ‘Can India become a great power?' (30.06.2013). Stratfor- an influential right-wing US geopolitical intelligence company—published an essay last year which deals with the same question (‘India Struggles With Its Strategy for Becoming a Great Power', 23.03.2018). And China's Global Times—the international edition of regime's central organ People's Daily—also discusses ‘India's great power status' (Liu Zongyi: China-India bid can forge united Asia, Global Times, 08.10.2019). There exists even an entry on Wikipedia called ‘India as an emerging superpower'. This question is currently particularly relevant since India has become an important factor in world politics in the recent past—as the catastrophic developments in Kashmir, the tensions at the border with Pakistan and the developments around the US-initiated ‘Indo-Pacific alliance' as well as the China-led RCEP free trade agreement demonstrate. In this essay, we intend to show that India—despite the clear ambitions of its ruling class—has not become an imperialist Great Power and is highly unlikely to become such in the foreseeable future. While it certainly plays an increasing role as a kind of regional or intermediate power, it basically remains a semi-colonial country which does not dominate global economic and political relations. The analysis outlined in this essay is based on several studies on Indian capitalism which the author has published in the last years (See e.g. ‘The Kashmir Question and the Indian Left Today’, 26.09.2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/kashmir-question-and-indian-left-today/; India: A Prison House of Nations and Lower Castes, 16.08.2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/india-is-a-a-prison-house-of-nations-and-lower-castes/; The China-India Conflict: Its Causes and Consequences, August 2017, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/china-india-rivalry/).