Biden and Indian Government

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 Biden and Indian Government

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1. Indian democracy: The world feels that India is a democracy in decline. Freedom House now ranks the country in 83rd place, at the very bottom of officially “free” states, observing that India’s “departure from democratic norms … could blur the values-based distinction between Beijing and New Delhi.” Reporters Without Borders ranks India 142nd on press freedom, three slots below Myanmar!
2. Biden's stand: President Joe Biden was quick to denounce the military coup in Myanmar and Russia’s brutal treatment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But India’s backsliding will pose a real problem for Biden. How will an administration dedicated to restoring democracy at home and abroad deal with an democracy that is a rising power in Asia and a crucial counterweight to China?
3. Dilemma: American presidents have faced some version of this problem since Jimmy Carter vowed to make human rights and the promotion of democracy “a fundamental tenet of our foreign policy.” Carter exempted the Shah of Iran from criticism because he regarded Tehran as an indispensable ally. President Ronald Reagan’s campaign for democracy bypassed anti-Communist dictatorships in Latin America and East Asia, while President George W. Bush blinked when Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak broke a promise to hold free and fair elections in 2005. Torn between professed values and geopolitical interests, presidents tend to default to the latter.
4. A democracy summit: Biden has explained that at the so-called Summit for Democracy he plans to convene later in 2021 will call on leaders to work together to fight corruption and authoritarianism and protect human rights. It is not at all clear whether illiberal democracies like Hungary, Poland, and Brazil — corrupt, authoritarian, rights-denying — would be invited to address their own failures.
5. Indian situation: Among these, India has a geopolitical status all its own. The world’s fifth-largest economy, India serves as a bulwark against China, which Biden administration regards as America’s most dangerous adversary. The Biden administration has adopted from Trump the premise of an “Indo-Pacific” region with India at its core. Kurt Campbell, appointed “Indo-Pacific Coordinator” at the National Security Council, has proposed forging a new system of alliances binding South and East Asia, and Asia and Europe, as well as of incorporating India, South Korea, and Australia into the G-7 to form a new “D-10”—the ten great democracies.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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