Why Delhi Must Talk To NATO

Context: India’s reluctance to engage a major European institution like North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be a stunning case of strategic self-denial.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

Indian ties with European countries in the past: before Independence.

• Cooperation between princely states and European powers: To preserve their sovereignty vis a vis the British, many princes sought cooperation from other Europeans.
  • Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh and Maulana Barkatullah in 1915 set up the first provisional government of India in Kabul with the help of Germany.
  • Soviet Union was an attractive partner for Indian revolutionaries.
  • During Second World War, Subhas Bose looked for German support to oust Britain from India.

Factors responsible for India’s poor relation with NATO or European countries

• Political taboos in foreign policy: Due to the colonial history of India - during which India viewed Europe through British eyes.
  • The struggles with rival European powers (The Great Game) like the Portuguese, Dutch, France, Germany and Russia resulted in the creation of suspicion about Europe into the Indian establishment’s DNA. 
• Non-Alignment policy during Cold War: led to the rigid ideological framing of the world in East-West and North-South axes. This widened the political divide with the west.
  • E.g. India relied on the Soviet Union for its security in the Cold War.
• Post-Cold war factors: Lack of strategic attention to Europe, the bureaucratisation of the engagement and lack of high-level political interest.
• Differences within NATO: On their relation with Russia, China and the Middle East; conflicts among NATO members like Greece and Turkey etc.

India’s efforts to end the prolonged political neglect towards NATO:

• The deepening maritime partnership with France since 2018.
• Joining the Franco-German Alliance for Multilateralism in 2019. 
• Modi’s first summit with Nordic nations in 2018 was a recognition that Europe is not a monolith but a continent of sub-regions.
• The engagement with Central Europe’s Visegrad Four.

Need of an enhanced India- NATO relationship

• Bringing stability and security in the Indo-Pacific: Along with India, NATO need partners like Japan and Australia in this regard.
• Facilitate productive exchanges:  In a range of areas, including terrorism, changing geopolitics (like the evolving nature of military conflict, the role of emerging military technologies, and new military doctrines).
• Improve bilateral relation with member countries: It will become easy for India to deal with the military establishments of its 30 member states of NATO.
  • Since NATO has built partnerships with many neutral and non-aligned states.

Conclusion: India should scale up its engagement with NATO, and while doing so, it should also insulate its bilateral relationship (with countries like Russia) from the larger structural trends buffeting the world today.