While navigating through the compulsions and constraints shaping the current foreign policy of India, one finds the country’s present leadership clearly supporting a multipolar world order — notwithstanding the United States’ still-recognised ascendance and its self-obsessed approach in international relations. This often endangers the national interests of relatively weak and developing nations, collectively identified as the Global South, including India, even though it is now the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Such dominance discourages the consolidation of global and regional institutions in a multipolar world and hurts the spirit of multilateral negotiations, causing significant loss to developing nations. Against this backdrop, India’s development goals require freedom of decision-making and independent action — pursued through a foreign policy rooted in the doctrine of non-alignment — to safeguard national interests, resist alignment in rival blocs, and consolidate the spirit of multipolarity in international relations.

Enduring Relevance of Non-Alignment

As the world undergoes rapid changes, new challenges and threats to state survival continue to emerge. Yet, India’s ancient moral traditions — peace, love, tolerance, non-violence, justice, and freedom — encapsulated in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“the world is one family”) and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah (“may all be happy”) — continue to inspire its humanistic and globalist approach to foreign policy.

While some critics have termed non-alignment obsolete since the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the USSR, the continued relevance and growing membership of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) suggest otherwise. India and most non-aligned countries have remained steadfast in pursuing independent foreign policies, despite occasional divergences in their national interests.

Global Power Structures and Inequality

The systemic imbalance of power — as highlighted by thinkers from Aristotle to John Mearsheimer — continues to shape world politics. Global financial institutions such as the WTO, World Bank, and IMF remain dominated by major powers, while military alliances like NATO and the former Warsaw Pact, as well as arms control treaties such as the NPT and CTBT, have largely favoured the interests of powerful states.

This has created a hierarchical international order where Third World nations struggle to assert themselves against discriminatory designs. These structural compulsions have contributed to rising economic inequalities and military tensions — evident in conflicts such as the US–Iran and Russia–Ukraine wars, and the ongoing Israel–Hamas confrontation.

Rising Tensions and the Challenge to Peace

Mounting global instability — including tensions between the US and China, North and South Korea, and Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific — threatens the foundations of peace established by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and enshrined in the UN Charter’s principle of sovereign equality of nation-states.

A rising China and Russia, along with countries like Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan, are increasingly challenging US dominance, posing serious threats to the liberal-democratic order long upheld by Anglo-European powers.

New Multipolar Order and India’s Role

Recent global developments, including the emergence of groupings like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), reflect a gradual shift from US-led unipolarity to a new multipolar world order. The SCO, founded in 2001, has become an important economic and strategic forum for developing nations seeking greater autonomy from Western dominance.

India, as a founding member of the NAM and an active participant in the SCO, continues to uphold the values of equality, liberty, justice, and non-violence in international relations. The recent SCO Summit (Tianjin, 2025) and improving India–US ties — including President Trump’s conciliatory gestures on trade — reflect India’s growing confidence and self-reliance in global diplomacy.

Balancing Relations with Major Powers

India’s foreign policy today strives to balance strategic partnerships while preserving independence. While it maintains its non-aligned stance, India seeks stronger cooperation with the US — including support for entry into the UN Security Council, G-8, Nuclear Suppliers Group, and other global forums.

At the same time, India is enhancing cooperation in science, technology, defence, energy, and space exploration to strengthen self-reliance and national security. However, growing border tensions with China, Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, and threats from international terror networks demand closer coordination with like-minded powers for regional stability.

Strengthening Multilateralism and South–South Cooperation

To preserve peace and uphold the liberal, democratic international order, the global community must unite against the erosion of values that once shaped the League of Nations and later the United Nations. Reviving the spirit of sovereign equality and collective conscience is vital to counter exploitative capitalism and imperial ambitions.

The Global South and NAM member-states must work together to strengthen South–South cooperation, reform multilateral institutions, and develop trade frameworks that prioritise fair labour practices, environmental protection, and economic justice for developing nations.

India’s Independent Path Forward

In an era of globalization and shifting power dynamics, foreign policy often revolves around power acquisition and maintenance. Yet, India’s approach remains distinct — guided not by self-interest alone but by moral conviction, strategic autonomy, and a commitment to global peace and cooperation.

India supports a multipolar world and an equally multipolar Asia, emphasizing independent decision-making, non-alignment, and active participation in global dialogues. By doing so, it continues to champion a world order grounded in multilateralism, equity, and human dignity.

(The writer is a professor of political science at MDPG College, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Views are personal. He can be contacted at sudhanshu.tripathi07@gmail.com)