How India sees the multipolar world clearly
The insights of Dr S. Jaishankar
Many Western leaders struggle to see the multipolar world clearly. Many proponents of the multipolar world focus on how Russia or China see the changing world, However, the most insightful, authoritative, and accessible commentator, who clearly sees the changing world we live in, is the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Dr Jaishankar has been the External Affairs Minister of Bharat (that is India) since 2019, and before then was the Foreign Secretary (head of department) from 2015. He has been ambassador to China and the USA, and served as a diplomat in Russia, Japan and Europe. His father and brother were senior diplomats. But Dr Jaishankar does not hide in a mandarin family’s habits. He brings his unrivalled insights into diplomacy and the multipolar world to the Indian public and the world. He has now written two books: The India Way and Why Bharat Matters. He delivers frequent smart punch lines in interviews, some of which have made him a rock star. But he does not dumb down Indian foreign policy to suit social media, rather he lifts up the intelligence of the Indian street through modern media.
I did a video on The India Way about a year ago (one of my earliest efforts, so forgive any technical mistakes).
Dr Jaishankar has now released Why Bharat Matters, which covers some similar ground in updated ways. He has also given an intriguing, insightful interview with India Express that I highly recommend. You can watch on YouTube or listen on podcast through Express Conversations, By the way, I do suggest reading and watching the Indian media. It is vibrant, intelligent and helps you see the world more clearly.
At one point during the interview Dr S Jaishankar observes that the world order is being changed by the “reassertion of the natural diversity of the world.” In some ways, this brief observation is similar to the argument I have been developing in my series on the brief history of the multipolar world.
New Tides of Globalisation
Since 1990 ideas of world order and globalisation have dominated elite government and business debates in the world. Those ideas were placed in a simplified history of globalisation, which was a rewrite of the Rise of the West. For 30 years, the tides of globalisation were powered by the Washington consensus. But in the last decade, those tides have turned. New currents and surges suddenly revealed an ancient multipolar world.
I will return to Dr Jaishankar and the model of Indian diplomacy in the Saturday essay. There are many lessons for Australia, other middle powers around the world, and indeed for America and China
There are a couple of highlights in this interview on that topic that I will expand on in the bonus content section of today’s post.
Also I have just posted a new YouTube video “What is civilization?” that explains this contentious term, how it has been used in history, and how it might be used intelligently. You can explore this issue further in my online course, World History Explorers I: Civilizations at courses.jeffrichwriter.com .