India took over the presidency of the over two decades old Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in September and that of the G-20 in December 2022 for a year at a time when the global tensions due to the Eurasian war and devastating impact of the Covid pandemic were defining the not so flattering contours of the global transitional order or disorder depending from which pivot one looks at it.
The G20 was conceived in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis as a platform for finance ministers and central bank governors to deliberate on issues pertaining to global finance and economy. In 2008, it was elevated to include the heads of State against the backdrop of global recession. Today, representing more than 80 per cent of the world’s GDP, 75 per cent of global trade, and 60 per cent of the global population amid a crisis of global multilateralism, G20 has emerged as a premier forum for deliberation on global issues.
In less than a month ( September 9-10), leaders from the world’s most powerful countries will be in New Delhi for the G20 Summit, which for the first time in history will be held under the patronage of an Indian presidency. While the summit will undoubtedly address many of the most pressing issues facing the global community, one topic has been placed at the center of debate —sustainable development.
India is trying to convey that any expansion of BRICS is futile without serious efforts to nurture trust and foster cooperation.
What stands between the West and a new world order dominated by rising China is India. India cannot be alienated. Rather, it must be wooed, and its support ensured, to guard against violent conflict heralding the new order
India needs to consider the political and military consequences of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan and formulate a policy to support Taiwan's freedom
In this age when geopolitics is in an overdrive, several assumptions of the past about the global order’s evolving nature have fallen by the wayside. The world is grappling with multiple challenges and yet there is no framework in place as of now that allows us to assess the rapid change in any meaningful manner. Nations, big and small, are struggling to cope with this flux with extant institutions, both domestic and international, exposing their limitations with each passing day. New ideas and arguments are being tested in real time as new possibilities emerge for countries trying to retain their strategic space to manoeuvre.