The Domestic-International Nexus in Indian Foreign Policymaking

Foreign policymaking in a country like India was long assumed to be strongly centralized and mainly the preoccupation of a limited group of political and bureaucratic elites. However, the 2024 elections have shown an increasing interest in foreign policy matters, notably over India’s role and status in the world, especially following India’s hosting of the G20 summit in 2023. Over time, it has also become clear that the foreign policy decision-making process in India is directly or indirectly shaped by a multitude of actors with varying foreign policy preferences. Despite multiple examples seeming to show how domestic politics shape Indian foreign policy, and vice-versa, there had been few attempts until recently to develop robust domestic theories of foreign policymaking in India. An emerging body of literature has begun to study the domestic politics of India’s foreign policy, building on existing substantive bodies of literature on Indian domestic and regional politics, political economy, social movements, identity politics, clientelism and trust networks and state institutions. This emerging literature looking at domestic drivers of India’s foreign policy can be divided into four broad categories depending on their focus of inquiry: (a) Institutions and bureaucracies; (b) Public opinion and accountability; (c) Ideology and Partisanship; and (d) Regional influences. The broader field of Foreign Policy Analysis would also benefit from new theoretical and empirical findings of this more systematic study of Indian foreign policy.