Two narratives dominate global discussions about India today: one is on the country’s rise as an increasingly prominent geopolitical and economic actor; the other centres on concerns – particularly among India’s Western partners – about democratic backsliding. As India goes to the polls in 2024, this paper examines the interplay between these two narratives, or more specifically, what India’s status as the world’s largest democracy means for its global role and relations with the West. It does so by analysing how the changing nature of India’s national identity impacts the country’s foreign policy.
For many Western countries, India’s democratic credentials have long been regarded as a key pillar for engagement. As just one illustration of this, in December 2021 India was invited by US president Joe Biden to join the inaugural Summit for Democracy, while several other countries that are at least nominally democratic (among them Bangladesh, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand) were notably excluded. India is also a member of the Quad (formally, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) grouping of ‘maritime democracies’ – together with Australia, Japan and the US – with a shared commitment to upholding a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The preamble to almost every joint statement between India and a Western country points to their common democratic heritage as the basis for deepening engagement. While this may seem rhetorical, it alludes to the fact that the West’s relations with India are seen to be underpinned not just by shared interests – as might also be the case in more transactional relationships with countries such as Saudi Arabia or Vietnam – but by shared values.
India’s status as the world’s largest democracy – or ‘Mother of Democracy’, as the government prominently branded it both during India’s G20 presidency and at the Summit for Democracy in 2023 – is also intrinsic to its claim to global leadership and ambitions for a more prominent role in global forums (including a permanent seat on the UN Security Council).
But what does India’s democratic status mean for the country’s foreign policy and engagement with the West? Even though Western governments promote India’s democratic credentials, New Delhi itself rarely employs democracy promotion as an overt tool of its foreign policy. An erosion of India’s democratic credentials would also have implications for how the country is perceived globally, and it would also prompt the West to review its cooperation with India.
This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges facing Western governments in their engagement with New Delhi based on India’s democratic credentials. After discussing the state of Indian democracy and the nature and evolution of India’s democracy promotion activities, it examines areas of convergence and divergence with the West. It then assesses potential risks on the horizon arising from the changing nature of India’s polity. In conclusion, it emphasizes the need for Western governments to take a more nuanced view of India’s democracy and how it influences the global role played by India, and of the nature – and limits – of New Delhi’s engagement with the West.
