NEW DELHI — The Forum included an energetic discussion on the sustainability of the liberal international order. On the issues of multilateralism, economic development, respect for sovereignty, international law, and “exceptionalism,” panelists observed a number of general trends:

• Brexit and the election of Donald Trump came as part of a package borne of disenchantment with globalism and the existing liberal order.
• Though Trump’s efforts to gain support for campaign promises such as the selective ban on Muslim migrants and the healthcare repeal have faltered thus far, some of the U.S.’s allies in Asia welcome a new degree of foreign policy assertiveness that the new U.S. administration has demonstrated thus far.
• The sustainment of American “exceptionalism,” rooted in the notion of the U.S. as a provider of global public goods and a guarantor of rule of law and economic liberalism, is being tested.
• The consensus on multilateralism as a protector of broader national interest is now in question. However, the alternative to an open system is a sphere of influence world, where only Russia, the U.S. and China win.

As GMF’s Daniel Twining pointed out in his Foreign Policy Article, India’s Optimism Is a Welcome Antidote to Western Pessimism, India “increasingly champions key pillars of the liberal world order” and sustains 7 percent economic growth per year, at a time when “anxieties in Europe and the United States are mounting, producing an insurgent populism that challenges democratic institutions, risks hollowing out multilateral cooperation, and undercuts support for the rules-based global order.” After decades of Jawaharlal Nehru-inspired non-alignment, India may benefit the most from assuming a leadership role in multilateralism and global liberalism today.

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Looking to the Past and Learning for the Future: Geopolitical Developments and Further Steps for the India Trilateral Forum

NEW DELHI — The final sessions of the India Trilateral Forum sparked animated discussions on topics that have the power to define the geostrategic trajectory of the region. From defense capabilities to transport infrastructure, experts shared their assessment of the calculus and constraints that underlie decisions made by India and China, respectively. The culminating exchanges complemented the open, hands-on debates held throughout the forum, and they led to some further reflections on its outcomes and perspectives for the future.

A Trilateral Outlook on India’s Defense Modernization

A fascinating penultimate session on India’s military acquisition program took a comparative regional and trilateral perspective. The expert panelists began by comparing India’s procurement to that of NATO and EU countries.

India has become one of the biggest defense capability importers in the world with the procurement of Rafales from France, Howitzers, C-17s, and C-130s from the U.S. and equipment from other countries such as Russia. Behind this, however is a lack of:

1. skill to develop and maintain defense technology made in India,
2. long-term political strategy underpinning procurement decisions, and
3. doctrine and education — to not only teach soldiers how to use the equipment but why and to what extent, according to the rule of law.

Read the full piece here.