Book Review: The India Way
By: Akhil Shukla
Tags: International Relations, S Jaishankar, India, Book Review, Foreign Policy

From the backroom to the corner office in South Block Delhi, Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar has been a game changer in setting Indian foreign policy agendas ever since he undertook the foreign ministry in Modi 2.0. A career diplomat known to bring new and necessary viewpoints in the Indian foreign policy as well as the role it should be playing in its neighborhood and the entire world, he has brought the foreign policy subject in the public eye with his bold and shrewd strategies in world affairs that he has sharpened in his 41 year long diplomat career serving in eight different geographies.

A huge admirer of his cool, calm and collected assessment of very difficult situations of events and his vision for India’s international strategic posture, in this post I will share my thoughts on his latest and much discussed book in the foreign policy realm — ‘The India Way’. The book is a set of 8 essays that are derived from his talks in several interactions at academic forums, think tanks, business meetings over the last two years and have been fused together to present the composite world view of what is today the changing global landscape. In this book, he embodies real diplomat knowledge and analysis of very important global issues. It brings a lot of his fresh thinking and offers valuable insights on the world, on India and also what the world means to India. At a time when India is facing multi-front provocations in terms of national security with its neighbors, an unsettled pandemic and wretched lockdowns, Dr. Jaishankar has not only managed to overcome these challenges being an incumbent foreign minister but also managed to finish his book projects in this time :)!!

Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar

The book brings together the past, present and future seamlessly. It presents the big picture around India and Indian interests — the repositioning of America, the rise of China and its implications on India, Europe after Brexit, where is Japan heading, what’s happening in the Indian ocean and more. But in many ways it is also about the fact to make people believe, that the assumptions on which we believe the world affairs were being run may or may not be valid anymore — that the rules that we took as a given will or will not work anymore. In fact in many ways the nature of power has changed, initially the definition of power was based on military connotations, then over time it became economic related, today it is very much based on trade, investment, connectivity, technology. In other words, the world of agreements are over, its now a world of convergences. Even countries that are close, will not agree on everything and even countries that are not close might still agree on some things. In a sense we are moving to a more practical, more pragmatic world but a world with more of margins, hedgings and issues — it is therefore quite different.

He talks about the overarching events in recent times that have taken place especially the changed approach of the US which he regards as the most startling and impactful shift in recent times since US is in many ways the key fulcrum around which the international affairs revolve and when they change their position, it has a big resonance. Looking back to 1990s, the US had what could might well be called as some sort of a global project, from which in the last few years it has certainly tried to pull out of or tried to shift the world’s perception of that. The book has a chapter called ‘The art of Disruption’ which is in some ways a take off on the book authored by the US president Trump called ‘The art of the Deal’ where Dr. Jaishankar explains how the US is really disrupting the world in order to get better terms from it. Complementing to the US scenario is the velocity and impact that the rise of China has brought on the world stage — which has indeed exceeded expectations that any one would have seen predicted. An unpredictable, belligerent and aggressive neighbor that China is, he talks about how the India role is absolutely pivotal which would develop the world geopolitics as well.

The last chapter of the book captures the unique and influential role that India has to play in the Indo-Pacific and in particular the importance of its partnerships with the likes of Japan, Asean and Australia. His thoughts and focus on the Indian Ocean has been much appreciated by the ones perilous to the ‘undisputed’ climate change. Indian interest in recognizing and taking initiatives fighting the climate change is very reassuring especially for these Indian ocean island nations who look at the risk of getting submerged within 50 years with current trend in average temperature rise.

Overall the book is a masterpiece and a must read for anyone interested in understanding India’s position and how it plans to strategize its way ahead in a world of uncertainties. You can buy your copy of the book here.