Tone shift: India’s dominant foreign policy aims under Modi

This article highlights the dominant aims of the current BJP government concerning India’s foreign policy. Using a constructivist-centred and discourse-orientated approach, it distils the three prevailing strategic goals integral to the Narendra Modi led regime, namely; gaining great power recognition; realising a multipolar world order; and enacting the “Act East” policy.The study finds that, although proof of a prevailing “Modi Doctrine” is scarce, the presence of these three aims is notably consistent and prevalent within official discourses and scholarly accounts of the foreign policy preferences of the second NDA. Their repetition and reiteration constitutes evidence of both a significant acceleration and a noteworthy tone shift concerning how Indian foreign policy has been conceptualised and conducted since 2014.