Kautilyan foreign policy analysis: Sino-Indian dynamics in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article evaluates and interprets Kautilya’s Arthasastra – an ancient Sanskrit treatise on statecraft and foreign policy – as a framework for analyzing the conflicting dynamics in a pluralistic order. Second, it operationalizes Arthasastra as an analysis of Sino-Indian dynamics in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. In examining Kautilya’s political theory, the article answers the perceived need for non-Western international relations theory. A theoretical contribution of the analysis of Kautilya includes an understanding that even inferior powers can become leaders in international affairs and that the precondition of sustainable leadership is the welfare of all subjects of government. Thus, Kautilya appears as an untapped source for conceptualizing international relations in a post-hegemonic order and provides a normative background for rethinking how to manage conflicts. On an empirical level, the article discusses the problem of China’s membership in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), as well as the economic, military and political implications of the Belt and Road Initiative for India and the Indian Ocean Region. The article proposes SAARC + 1, Indian active engagement with the Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor and the initiation of investment, connectivity and infrastructure projects through the Quad.