People Power

Pranay Kotasthane You make the case very well in your article on why India should be okay with a balance of power in Maldives and share it with China. It is logical behaviour for any small nation from their perspective. During the cold war India also started with the same intention of being non aligned as it couldnt afford taking sides. It was in our culture and economic situation to do that. In my model this is what I hint at as a cultural trait manifesting itself in the national politics. The question to ask is does China think it is okay to share Maldives with India? Will china be okay sharing our economic and military presence in Taiwan? Does it feel India can balance the power in those islands and not make it appear like a big brother? Are we culturally okay being a big brother to someone?

Clearly, as I mention there is no cultural or ideological connect Maldives has with China, unlike what it has with Saudi Arabia. Are we okay sharing Maldives with Saudi Arabia too? Right now the answer might be, it is infeasible to monopolise countries because we feel its peaceful coexistence. Maybe if Saudi get an island and set up a naval base we might conclude vasudeiva kutumbakam isnt really working out for us. What about the relationship with Pakistan? Why Pakistan and not Myanmar or Srilanka?

Its not to say, model 4 is the only model of analysis or that cultural thinking is not covered in other models. Its a derived attribute in the other models. But its a perspective thats useful to consider while analysing all relationships and decisions a country takes. And even if its factored in, it makes for interesting predictions on the propensity of certain countries to choose certain allies and not others; the strategic cultural & ideological ones, if not the tactical economic ones.