When Modi meets Biden
The Indian leader’s visit to Washington this week reflects the growing complexity of the emerging multipolar system, with realpolitik considerations holding sway
SOON after US President Joe Biden entered office, one of his central foreign-policy initiatives seemed to be the worldwide advancement of liberal democracy. This included the convening of two summits, to which India, also known as “the largest world democracy”, was invited.
The global democracy agenda acquired more force in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and against the backdrop of growing US tensions with China. The Biden administration then promoted a narrative under which a US-led bloc of democracies confronted an axis of authoritarian regimes headed by Moscow and Beijing.
Which raised the question of how India fits into Biden’s so-called “alliance of democracies”.
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