Shifting discourses of climate security in India: domestic and international dimensions

Abstract

The Indian perspectives on climate security are influenced by both domestic and international imperatives. The logic followed by India is not typically the same as that adopted by countries of the Global North. India’s discourses on the interconnections between climate change and security are largely conditioned by developmental priorities (domestic) and geopolitical pressures (international), which are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In this context, the article contextualises India’s climate security narratives at the intersection of domestic and international/foreign-policy realms, involving different actors, including academia and think tanks, the government and its agencies, the military and non-governmental organisations. It argues that there has been a gradual process of integrating climate change into the domestic security policy-making agenda in the country, with the growing recognition of worsening climate vulnerabilities, while demonstrating reluctance to engage with the existing climate security discourses at the international level. It analyses the ways in which the ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ intermingle with each other to shape India’s discourses and practices on climate security by categorising them into two ­dimensions – domestic–international and international–domestic.