Strategic autonomy is the principle that a country should keep the freedom to make its own foreign and security policy choices according to its national interest, without being bound to any single power or bloc; in India it is seen as the successor to non-alignment and is often practised today as "multi-alignment" with many partners.
During the Cold War, India's policy of non-alignment kept it out of military blocs, although the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation drew it close to Moscow at a time of crisis. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, India faced a world dominated by the United States, a rising China and economic pressures that led to liberalisation. Policymakers began to speak of strategic autonomy to describe how India would engage with all major powers while avoiding dependence on any.
The 1998 nuclear tests and the later India–US civil nuclear agreement of 2005–08 showed how India sought recognition as a major power while defending its independent choices. Over the next two decades, as China's rise and border tensions grew, India deepened ties with the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe, but kept close relations with Russia and engaged with groupings such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Analysts call this multi-alignment: building issue-based partnerships with many countries rather than formal alliances.
Create a free account to read 5 full pages a month, or upgrade for unlimited access. The definition above, the A–Z index and the pop-up definitions in lessons stay free.
