I2U2 and Regional Stability in the Middle East

Abstract Participation in the Middle East Quad (I2U2) indicates that India, Israel, and the UAE are exercising “strategic autonomy” and have engineered a redirection of their foreign policy agendas. These countries no longer face any strategic dilemma in expanding their outreach, and formalising a transactional relationship for mutual strategic and geo-economic growth in the unstable and volatile Middle East. Is India’s involvement in the Middle East Quad Group beneficial to its foreign policy, keeping in view it’s cautious and ‘hands-off approach’ in the region? How far can these accords help in achieving regional stability? This paper attempts to answer these questions. It also deals with how India strikes a balance between the Abraham Accord countries and Iran, despite mutual rivalry in relation to several regional issues. This study observes that the Quad countries are driven by geo-strategic and geo-economic interests and exercise strategic autonomy in this transregional arrangement. This article employs analytical and interpretative methods through a forward-thinking conceptual framework centred on “strategic autonomy”. It concludes that India’s participation in this grouping does not hinder its ability to pursue relations with other countries, such as Iran, for its economic security. Rather, geopolitical shifts prompt national decisions on the part of different, even mutually confrontational actors, in a way that corresponds to the respective levels of their strategic autonomies or vulnerabilities. Strategic outcomes with peace dividends, such as regional multipolarity and economic diversification are identified as part of this process. such