The United States in India's Strategy in the Indo-Pacific Region Since 2014

Abstract

This article analyzes the main assumptions of India’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and the role of the US in that strategy. The time frame of the article has been determined by the assumption of power in India in 2014 by the Indian People’s Party (Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as the opening of a new stage of the US-led Indo-Pacific rebalancing strategy, which followed China’s initiation in 2013 of its Belt and Road Initiative (previously known as the One Belt One Road project). The article seeks to answer the following main research question: What role has India attributed to the United States in its Indo-Pacific strategy since 2014? It hypothesizes that the United States has assumed an increasingly significant role in India’s regional strategy over the past seven years, but not to the extent of a formal alliance, only approaching at best the status of a strategic partnership. The theoretical framework used to analyze the case study of the US role in India’s regional strategy is based on institutional balancing and the assumptions of neoclassical realism. The choice of such research tools was determined by their explanatory value. Moreover, both models complement each other. The first part of the article presents the general assumption of the analysis and the theoretical framework. The second discusses the evolution of India’s approach to the US from 2014 to 2021, indicating the reasons for its change and reconstructing the role of the US in Indian regional strategy, especially after 2020. The third part draws on the theoretical framework adopted in the article, i.e., the assumptions of institutional balancing and neoclassical realism, to offer conclusions that answer the main research questions.