The Path of Their Own towards Multipolarity

Abstract

For the current Indian leadership, multipolarity is a naturally established world order in which the global agenda should be determined by the voices of many actors who are now "middle powers" like India. Both "unipolarity" and "new bipolarity" are unacceptable, including in Asia with the ascendance of China. It is perceived as a rival and a threat due to India's painful defeat in the 1962 war, the growing Chinese presence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and the confrontation on the Himalayan border. India is opting for a large-scale expansion of cooperation with the United States, which uses it to "contain" the PRC, but she is doing that without assuming additional obligations and without getting involved in the confrontation of these powers. Simultaneous membership in the SCO, BRICS and the RIC, and relations of a "particularly privileged strategic partnership" with Russia hedge the risks of Washington's assertiveness and keep Beijing from taking drastic steps in competition with New Delhi. India's active "multi-accession" is de-signed not to antagonize anyone unnecessarily, ensuring that through the promotion of national interests it occupies the position of a great power in the status of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Her efforts to consolidate her role as the main voice of the "Global South" strengthen the basis for cooperation between the diplomacies of Russia and India in establishing a multipolar world order.