India of the world

Two better heads to begin the process would be hard to find. As a senior member of the BJP and confidant of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission is well-placed to explain the Indian government’s position on a range of bilateral matters. Talbott, Deputy Secretary of State, has a background in disarmament issues and some valuableexperience in India having been sent to New Delhi a few years ago to put out fires lit by the hyperactive Robin Raphael.

But beyond the bilateral, there are wider horizons to focus on in Washington, Moscow and elsewhere. All the world’s capitals have a responsibility, singly and collectively, to bring about peace and stability. The absence of war is not peace. Nor is an inequitable world order stable. The challenge to world statesmen at the end of the 20th century is to work on a new sustainable arrangement. History has shown that any system which fails to take into account the disparities and diversities between nations is doomed sooner or later to collapse. There must be a place for national aspirations as there must be a place for the collective good. The post-Cold War order, based on the belief that conflicts of interest between nations can be managed through institutional arrangements and the collective wisdom, has worked up to a point. But scarcely anyone denies that major global institutions in thepolitical and economic sphere, the Security Council, the IMF etc, derived their shape and functions in a bipolar world and are incapable of meeting the demands of a multipolar, rapidly changing world.

Reform of the world order has been slow because of the notion that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. That was a mistake. As has been seen, non-proliferation arrangements are broke and must be fixed. India, which traditionally has accommodated a global vision alongside its national interests, has a responsibility in reshaping the new world order. In the days ahead there will be many opportunities to spell out its ideas and to persuade the weapons powers and the non-weapons powers about ways and means of delegitimising weapons of mass destruction and eliminating them. India must seize the high moral ground again. And India has no reason to subordinate that vision to its problems with Pakistan. It has an honourable record over the last 50 years as a force for disarmament and equity in international relations. Itmust make common cause with all those who believe as it does that a new order is essential and can be created.