The Unfinished Quest: India's Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi

Recording of an ÖFG Peaceful Change lecture on 2 May 2024 at the Diplomatische Akademie Wien - Vienna School of International Studies
T.V. Paul
(Distinguished James McGill Professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal; Fellow, Royal Society of Canada; Non-resident faculty, Vienna School of International Studies)
Welcome and moderation:
Markus Kornprobst
(Professor of International Relations, Vienna School of International Studies)
Along with the meteoric rise of China, there has been much interest in the emergence of India, as a rising power with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, until the 2019 Pandemic crisis. The rapidly developing US-China rivalry gives India an added importance in world politics today as India is the most significant swing power that can help balance China's potentially aggressive rise in the Indo-Pacific region. Further, the strengthening of Hindu nationalism under Narendra Modi, who has been making strong attempts to emerge India as a leading power while at the same time taking populist postures internally and using international status enhancement for electoral victory, evokes global interest. The dynamics of international status in domestic political contestation has not obtained much attention in the extant literature. Now that we have some three decades of data on India’s economic and military growth, we can make a better assessment of the achievements and shortcomings in comparison with others, especially China.
This book differs in its focus on status perspective which is often missing in popular books on India's rise, as scholars and journalists who write about India tend to neglect this important socio-political concept.
Chapters:
00:00:00 Welcome by Markus Kornprobst
00:02:52 Lecture by T.V. Paul
00:48:52 Q&A with the moderator and the audience
This discussion is part of the ÖFG Working Group on Peaceful Change's series of public lectures and panel discussions, which is organised jointly by the Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft (Austrian Research Association ÖFG) and the Diplomatische Akademie Wien - Vienna School of International Studies (DA).
Learn more about the DA and its programmes at www.da-vienna.ac.at.
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Partner:
Austrian Research Association (ÖFG): www.oefg.at/