India’s Path to Power: Strategy in a World Adrift is a manifesto written by eight of India’s leading public intellectuals that seeks to chart a future course for Indian’s foreign policy. But, unlike most foreign policy reports, it delves into thorny issues of economics, climate change, global governance, and India’s domestic politics. 

This week on the show, Milan is joined by one of the report’s key authors, Ambassador Shivshankar Menon. Ambassador Menon is a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi and has had a long and distinguished career in government—serving as national security advisor, foreign secretary, and high commissioner to China and Pakistan, among other notable positions. 

Milan and Ambassador Menon discuss the India-China-U.S. triangle, the fate of India’s “Neighborhood First” policy, and the state of civil-military relations. Plus, the two talk about the centrality of democracy at home to India’s power projection abroad.

Episode notes:

1. India’s Path to Power: Strategy in a World Adrift, Centre for Policy Research and Takshashila Institution.
2. “The Biden-Modi Summit and the Future of U.S.-India Relations” (with Ashley Tellis), Grand Tamasha, September 22, 2021.