Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor Amitabh Singh on Wednesday said that India must stay in a way away from the war and any war for that matter. India must acknowledge the Nehruvian perspective of the foreign policy of cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
He faulted the US and the West for the present crisis. He concluded that the ball is now in the hands of Ukraine to come to the negotiating table. He was speaking at the second lecture of the Mumbai Dialogue on World Affairs organised jointly by the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre and Nehru Centre. The Dialogue was essentially conceived by bringing new ideas and focusing on foreign policy perspectives emerging from Mumbai.
‘’Foreign policy of any nation, no doubt, is determined by its national interest with an emphasis on territorial sovereignty and its own strategic importance. The international organizations like the United Nations and other organizations of regional cooperation have more or less settled the issues of territorial sovereignty to a large extent,’’ said Mr Singh.
‘’Institutions like the IMF and World Bank dictated the global political economy to a large extent a decade ago. However, the global order in the multipolar world has changed enormously. Global economic organizations like the WTO are playing a crucial role in shaping the foreign policy of any country. issues of social indicators are an intrinsic part of the state system,’’ he noted.
‘’Therefore, foreign policy may not be the concern of only the central governments in future. To exercise its autonomy, the federating states would engage individually with the other structures of economy,’’ said Mr Singh.
The Mumbai Dialogue is a brainchild of Member of Parliament Ms Supriya Sule. “We need to infuse academic rigour in Mumbai and a place for free thought in Mumbai. The two institutions named after two great personalities; Jawaharlal Nehru and Yashwantrao Chavan who are the icons and architects of Modern India and Maharashtra respectively will give strength for such discussions in future,’’ she said.
