Shaping the Emerging World

"There is a veritable flood of books on India these days. But this book stands out. With India's dramatic rise since the 1991 reforms, following China's even more impressive economic emergence, Asia's sleeping giants are finally awake. How they fit into the multilateral system is therefore of extraordinary importance to themselves and to the world. This group of world-renowned authors offer a splendid and insightful analysis of how rising India approaches multilateralism. Read and be instructed." --Jagdish Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization and Why Growth Matters " Shaping the Emerging World... offers a stimulating and insightful look at a diverse range of issues related to India's growing engagement with multilateralism. This collection of well-argued essays, rich in nuanced analysis,... will deepen the serious reader's understanding of Indian diplomacy in an increasingly multilateral world. This book is a valuable contribution to an insufficiently studied aspect of Indian foreign policy." --Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, India

India faces a defining period. Its status as a global power is not only recognized but increasingly institutionalized, even as geopolitical shifts create both opportunities and challenges. Will India emerge as one of the shapers of the emerging international order? This volume seeks to answer that question."

India faces a defining period. Its status as a global power is not only recognized but increasingly institutionalized, even as geopolitical shifts create both opportunities and challenges. With critical interests in almost every multilateral regime and vital stakes in emerging ones, India has no choice but to influence the evolving multilateral order. If India seeks to affect the multilateral order, how will it do so? In the past, it had little choice but to be content with rule taking—adhering to existing international norms and institutions. Will it now focus on rule breaking—challenging the present order primarily for effect and seeking greater accommodation in existing institutions? Or will it focus on rule shaping—contributing in partnership with others to shape emerging norms and regimes, particularly on energy, food, climate, oceans, and cyber security? And how do India's troubled neighborhood, complex domestic politics, and limited capacity inhibit its rule-shaping ability?

Despite limitations, India increasingly has the ideas, people, and tools to shape the global order—in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, ""not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially."" Will India emerge as one of the shapers of the emerging international order? This volume seeks to answer that question.

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