Abstract
Foreign policy making in India is typically viewed as highly centralised
and dominated by the Prime Minister’s Office and bureaucracy. Yet in
2004, the Congress-Party-led United Progressive Alliance government
launched a Composite Dialogue with Pakistan which included a place
for Indian think tanks in the Kashmir dispute. We suggest that as India
liberalised its economy amidst domestic political upheaval, think tanks
were given greater access to domestic and foreign funding and adopted
new roles in foreign policy making. In the case of the Kashmir conflict,
peacebuilding think tanks were encouraged by the government to
engage in cross-border activities that would build constituencies for
peace with Pakistan and promote economic cooperation as an incentive
for peace. While the government aimed to depoliticise the conflict,
these think tanks used this opportunity to draw attention to marginalised perspectives and issues. Peacebuilding think tanks nonetheless
faced significant challenges in shaping the peace process because of
structural constraints regarding access to resources and lack of autonomy to further their agendas. This reflected resistance within the state
to depoliticising a conflict that has long been India’s central national
security issue.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1496-1515 |
Journal | Third World Quarterly |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |