Editorial

The summer of discontent is upon us. Yet, as the world seems to spiral out of control, there is a greater effort to seek solutions to actually and potentially dangerous situations. The havoc in Palestine has renewed focus on global institutions like the International Court of Justice, and middle powers like South Africa, Norway, Ireland and Spain have seized the space to consolidate global public opinion around the ethics of war and humanitarian values in global policy. In many ways the Global South is more Global but less just South with states in the North breaking away on the fundamentals of Western policy. The casuist link between historical victimization and current ambitions which endorse the seizure of land, the right to livelihood and human dignity from others is no longer acceptable to a larger number of countries across the world. Issues around development and security remain at the heart of global and national debates as governments seek to make their populations more secure, prosperous and equipped for the challenges ahead.

Significantly, even as the shocks of COVID-19 and the Ukraine–Russian war, and now the war in Gaza, provide a rationale for national industrial policies, de-globalisation, decoupling and de-risking, there seems to be an equally strong argument for recalibrating existing globalisation, as one author in this issue argues. Undoing existing supply chains, global investments and maritime and land links is fraught with greater economic danger than evolving better, transparent and consensual regulatory mechanisms to protect national interests. Thus, ‘India should see the notion of decoupling as distinct from US–China decoupling. Rather than decoupling, diversification away from China in a phased manner is found to be critical to secure India’s future in the evolving technological landscape.’ With the WTO in a state of coma, it falls to regional institutions and states to power the next steps. Other papers in this issue of the India Quarterly speak to some of these concerns.

On another note, India finds itself still struggling to make the connections it needs for regional connectivity and energy security, both issues central to policy concerns. In its Northeast, the Act East policy has raised hopes and fears in equal measure as one article points out. The potential for connections with South-East Asia is exciting, but policy on the ground still has a long way to go to address local needs for employment, economic growth and infrastructure. The question most often asked is whether policy from New Delhi will bypass local communities to connect with ASEAN. In its broader energy policy with the oil-rich regions of Central Asia, as well, geography, geopolitics and the direction of its own external trade hamper Indian initiatives. Here, it seems that New Delhi is hemmed in as much by South Asian politics as by geopolitical realities.

However, open borders, land and maritime connections have their own security implications. Where relatively open borders do exist, ‘the connection between drugs, conflict and power is a key regional dynamic with implications for its neighbours and beyond’, as one author writes. Thus, conflict in Myanmar has encouraged the smuggling of amphetamines not only through India’s Northeast but also through the West Bengal–Bangladesh border, using existing channels for smuggling other contraband products. In addition, the Indian coast with its exposure to many maritime paths is increasingly vulnerable to radiological and nuclear smuggling with implications for misuse by criminal and terrorist elements and national security.

As global attention pivots to Europe’s wars, greater crises elsewhere get short shrift. In Sudan, conflict is building up to a preventable humanitarian disaster. Across the continent, West Africa’s dominant power, Nigeria, is dealing with increasing cross-border crime, which derails its regional integration policies and sets back much-needed regional development. The Global South would do well to pay attention to its own health even as the greater military and aid resources feed into Ukraine and Israel.