Abstract

India under Modi’s leadership has been treated as an almost textbook case to highlight the dangers of illiberalism and democratic erosion associated with "civilizational states". This chapter focuses on the impact that an evolving civilizational narrative has had on Indian foreign policy. Investigating India’s record in global and regional governance, it argues that scholars may have overestimated the impact of Modi’s civilizational narrative: there are key continuities in India’s negotiation positions across different issue-areas. Critics may also have been somewhat hasty in proclaiming its effect as being necessarily detrimental for both India itself and also the world at large. The chapter demonstrates that despite important continuities in its foreign policy, India has, in recent years, begun to take on a role of greater responsibility in global governance. This role, interestingly, is more aligned with the liberal orientation of many western democracies, while also working in tandem with the country’s concerns and priorities.