The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace announced earlier this month plans to open a New Delhi branch — “Carnegie India” — in April this year. This will be the century-old institution’s first new branch since the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy opened in Beijing in 2010.
The “global think tank” tapped Indian foreign policy analyst Raja Mohan to lead the new center. Devex spoke with Mohan about what we can expect. Here are the highlights of our conversation:
How do you see the distinction between an Indian think tank and a global think tank? Will your role at Carnegie be different, simply by virtue of the fact that it’s a globally oriented institution?
India itself has changed in an interesting way. Today it’s economy is far more globalized. So in some senses we have to deal with the global interdependence in a way that India did not have to in the previous 40 years. The Indian economy is globalized, and the policymaking has become a lot more complex.
In India, like in the U.K. and France, the government was largely driven by a permanent bureaucracy, and the media played the role of the critic or questioner. Today I think given the complexity of policy there’s room and scope for outside people contributing to it … It is going to be called “Carnegie India,” rooted in India, developing solutions on the basis of India’s own unique experience, but located in a larger international context … The resources have been raised here. India has a strong intellectual tradition so it’s going to be part of that. I don’t see it as an alien construct being inserted into the Indian body.
Many of the issues that you’ll be dealing with are complex global issues — climate change, global development — how has India engaged on these topics so far?
Everything we do today, given India’s interdependence, we’re connected to the world. On climate change, if India keeps burning coal, we can burn a hole through the world’s environment. It’s a challenge for everyone. The U.S., despite being a large economy, is actually quite insular in the way politicians function. In a way the world impinges on all of us in far more intrusive ways.
[Former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal] Nehru’s India ... was far more open in the 1950s to ideas, to people coming and working. It’s really the post-1969 phase when India really turned on itself, the sense of distrust of outsiders. All that came with the populist leftward drift in the 1960s. I think that phase, hopefully, is behind us, because whether particular decision makers are global in their outlook or not, what you have is an economy that’s connected to the world — Prime Minister Modi’s own outreach to the Indian outreach to the Indian diaspora in the West. India’s footprint today is global.
India has the largest stock of the world’s migrants — 16 million — number one in the world, and it’s going to keep growing. In a sense there is far greater connection to the world ... Whatever the political debates on globalization are, there is a genuine connection that is emerging.
I’m interested in that knowledge sharing, which the Carnegie ‘global think tank’ structure seems set up to achieve.
Are there specific areas where you think Indian experience will most strongly contribute to global solutions?
India is a laboratory for innovation, because you’re operating under so many constraints … How do you take stuff to mobile when the broadband is not too strong? How do you produce interesting solutions — the idea of a hundred dollar laptop, a hundred dollar tablet?
So I think it’s driving people because as one of the late developers and a large country of diverse languages and population, how we develop solutions — whether it is on education or health care or moving goods around — in all these I think the Indian experience would help, not just to developing countries, but also to the developed world.
I’ve read that India ranks fifth in number of think tanks. How do you hope Carnegie India will contribute uniquely to that landscape?
In India partly there is a conservatism on the one side, particularly in the security-foreign policy discourse. On the other side you have a large number of purely outside, NGO-types, civil society groups, which tend to be too far out ... So I think you have to find that middle space where you’re creating ideas which have practical value, and yet you’re changing things. You don’t end up rationalizing what’s being done or suggesting utopian [ideals]....
This article originally appeared on Devex.com.
Comments(10)
Against the backdrop of The Great Indian Milieu it's very easy and tempting to be general and hard to be specific. We seldom find a slew of influential forces acting as one powerful problem solver by way of being a focused cluster. Broadly, this is how and where and why Carnegie India 's pool of intellectual capital, wholly apolitical and devoid of polemic, can give birth to stable solutions free of eddies or whirlpools that serve to destroy stability. I sincerely hope the nation's finest original thinkers will find it worthwhile to strengthen Carnegie India's ability to bring sustainable solutions into the public domain.
India has developed substantially since the time of Jawaharlal Nehrus times. His policies on Indo China or Indo Pak relationships have failed. So the need to be defensive through rhetoric existed. Today, India has shown to the world that we are a power to reckon with it. USA is the single largest country benefiting Indians but also getting benefited. We should respect the individuality of nations. Unfortunately Arms sales continuously tilt the balance continuously. Unfortunately we are too big a country and inertias are high, that anything appears slow. In times of today, we cannot manage with Mahatmas, we need Subash Chandra Bose.
First of all I warmly congratulate Professor C. Raja Mohan on his appointment. I am confident that the Carnegie India under Mohan's dynamic and innovative leadership will be able to address the gargantuan challenges facing the international community and India's global role in reshaping the security architecture in Indo-Pacific region. Equally an important task before Carnegie India will be as to how Indian intellectuals, academia and media can be a bridge between theory and practice in global, regional and local issues. BM Jain, Professor of Political Sc.
Carnegie India must lead in the nuclear non proliferation debate which is lost in the nationalistic assertions of being an unaccepted nuclear power on the global stage. Today there is no discussion in India on how it can contribute to nuclear non proliferation. Most think tanks are also devoted to regional security studies thus such core security issues have been neglected, we hope that these are addressed by Carnegie in India
Non proliferation is a myth. We have to see that nuclear materials do not land into the hands of terrorists. More than anything, it may scare large populations, though consequences re not expected to be severe. Think tanks like Carnegie melon, with Dr Raja Mohan, need to develop documents /reports which would look at the developmetal aspects more than other areas. They should commission studies on Scope for renewable energies in India, Improving College Education In india, Health care aspects etc..
Carnegie has made a good start. Lets see how it will be be to match India's aspirations in the Global context. Raja is the right man to lead Carnegie in India. Looking forward to participate in its future programmes & events.......................cheers !!
CONGRATULATION FOR THE OPENING 'CARNEGIE INDIA" India's role in the world affairs has been consistently progressive to the global political demand thru active communication and leadership roles in research and with the "think tank" groups worldwide. Particularly in security sector, India successfully possess as a rising global power, and a strategic U.S. partner. India provides the expectation as partner to US in tackling global power to meet western ideology, standard and results. India with extreme cultural difference that the Western, is the only nation that have been able to work considerably stable as partnership with the United States and Western nations. Despite very difference in social culture, India has been successfully to preserve its own original rich culture enjoyed by the international community and simultaneously develop the technology, security sectors ability to the level G7 countries, India capability in engage with Russia, Middle East, Africa, and Asia pacific region brought the unique and complimentary as US partner in the current nuclear age. "Carnegie India" certainly will provide "the broader strategic outlook" in security sector.
CONGRATULATION FOR THE OPENING 'CARNEGIE INDIA" India's role in the world affairs has been consistently progressive to the global political demand thru active communication and leadership roles in research and with the "think tank" groups worldwide. Particularly in security sector, India successfully possess as a rising global power, and a strategic U.S. partner. India provides the expectation as partner to US in tackling global power to meet western ideology, standard and results. India with extreme cultural difference that the Western, is the only nation that have been able to work considerably stable as partnership with the United States and Western nations. Despite very difference in social culture, India has been successfully to preserve its own original rich culture enjoyed by the international community and simultaneously develop the technology, security sectors ability to the level G7 countries, India capability in engage with Russia, Middle East, Africa, and Asia pacific region brought the unique and complimentary as US partner in the current nuclear age. "Carnegie India" certainly will provide "the broader strategic outlook" in security sector.
The theme of Global Leadership is very relevant for India but the corollary issue that must be clearly understood by consensus is: Global Leadership in what? There are many conflicting areas where we need to be a leader, e.g. making the Indian Rupee convertible, sustaining high GDP growth rate, a country facing confrontation is weak so India has to credibly keep its borders secure, severe restrictions of arms/gun sales within India towards deterrent for terrorism etc. Like USA, India must be strong yet peace-loving. Can we have national consensus on this multi-dimensional "package"?
First i would like to congratulate the head of India who is man of intellect and is respected for his in depth analysis of Indian conditions and of South Asia.Global concerns and India's challenges some time contradicts each other and beyond understanding of logic.Pace of liberalization is slow,energy and carbon contradicts each other.Security situation with Pakistan and China is not rosy and hovers on instability.i would like to follow the conversation in the coming time.
Comment Policy
Comments that include profanity, personal attacks, or other inappropriate material will be removed. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, steps will be taken to block users who violate any of the posting standards, terms of use, privacy policies, or any other policies governing this site. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.