Published Online:July 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of International Relations
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJIR040725
DOI:10.71329/IUPJIR/2025.19.3.64-87
Author Name:Mule Rohit Ashok
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:64-87
In the 21st century, the foreign policy of a state is not exclusively focused on a particular domain of relationship; instead, globalization has forced its diversification into multiple domains of partnership. That is because globalization has opened the political-economic border of the state, and thereby, the process of integration of the world into a single entity has been embarked on. The field of foreign policy has not remained a monotonous field of study but has evolved into a more dynamic one. The diversification of the state’s foreign policy is an outcome of globalization. The foreign policymaker favored the adoption of a neoliberal perspective in the paradigm of foreign policy, which is mainly driven by a cost-benefit (interests) analysis. Applying the neoliberal perspective to foreign policy, this paper analyzes the post 1990s diversification of India’s foreign policy in Africa, when the country pragmatically pursued a market-driven agenda through the LPG (Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization) policy. The relationship between India and Africa has a civilizational linkage, which has helped India diversify its engagement in Africa by tapping different opportunities under a ‘win-win’ policy doctrine. Nevertheless, India faces several challenges as well, the major one being China’s aggressive ‘check-book diplomacy’ in Africa. The paper examines India-Africa relations over the decades, the challenges posed by China to India’s interests in Africa, and how India can overcome these challenges.
In the 21st century, Africa’s political-economic potential has been spectacularly acknowledged by the emerging powers from Asia, such as India and China. These two powers are highly engaged in various fields of competition to grab more stakes in different parts of the world. Among all of them, Africa has taken a categorical