Concept Note

India at the Epicentre: Strategic Responses to Global Turbulence Navigating Conflicts, Competition, and Diplomatic Challenges

November 2025

The 2025 International Relations Conference titled "India at the Epicentre: Strategic Responses to Global Turbulence: Navigating Conflicts, Competition, and Diplomatic Challenges," is a continuation of the deliberations that commenced in the last edition themed "India's Strategic Culture: Addressing Global & Regional Challenges", held in November 2023. Against the backdrop of unprecedented geopolitical upheaval, escalating global conflicts, and shifting power dynamics, this edition will examine India's evolving foreign policy responses to contemporary challenges and its strategic role in navigating multipolar turbulence.

1. Rediscovering the Golden Road: Foreign Policy for a Civilisational State

The present churn in global politics and the emergence of a multipolar world order could benefit from an analysis of historical experiences, cultural identities, and political philosophies of ‘civilization-states’ - nations that derive legitimacy from their civilizational heritage - such as India, which have witnessed and successfully adapted to the transformation of world politics. It would be interesting to examine how civilisation states craft their foreign policy grammar and attempt to develop a non-Western approach that is starkly different from the Westphalian system that has dominated the international political ecosystem over the past several decades.

This session will focus on providing an overview and understanding of the 4 important mutually supportive and intrinsically linked policy priorities that draw inspiration from Indian strategic thought. Drawing from its rich and ancient heritage, India has identified concepts that find resonance and relevance with contemporary national, regional and international priorities, demonstrating how ancient wisdom translates into modern diplomatic practice:

SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region)
Amrit Kaal
Vishwabandhu
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam

The session will examine how the aforementioned concepts manifest in actual policy decisions and explore the challenges that arise when culturally-rooted diplomatic approaches interact with existing international institutions. This analysis will provide insights into how non-Western frameworks are reshaping global governance in an increasingly multipolar world.

2. India's Strategic Autonomy: Maneuvring Through Multipolar Conflicts

In an era of unprecedented geopolitical turbulence, India faces the complex challenge of maintaining strategic autonomy while navigating multiple concurrent conflicts and diplomatic crises. The contemporary landscape requires India to balance great power competition, particularly between the US and China, manage the Russia-Ukraine conflict while preserving historical partnerships, and address escalating regional tensions. India's approach to Middle East tensions reflects its delicate balancing act between maintaining energy security partnerships with Gulf nations while managing relationships with Iran and Israel amid regional conflicts. Further, recent diplomatic challenges with Bangladesh and persistent Pakistan border concerns have added new dimensions to India's strategic calculus, while European countries, particularly the EU member states, increasingly view India as a crucial partner for diversifying supply chains and strengthening democratic alliances.

India's approach reflects its commitment to strategic autonomy—independent decision-making while engaging constructively with all major powers. This session examines how India leverages its democratic credentials, economic potential, and civilizational soft power to navigate geopolitical storms without compromising national interests.

This session will discuss the following aspects:

Managing US-China competition while maintaining technology and economic partnerships
Balancing Russia-Ukraine responses with energy security and Western pressure
Addressing South Asian challenges: Bangladesh crisis and Pakistan security concerns
Leveraging EU-India partnership in technology, economics, and security cooperation
Navigating Middle East tensions: Gulf energy partnerships and Iran-Israel dynamics

3. Economic Warfare and Supply Chain Disruption: Global Trade Under Geopolitical Pressure

The intersection of geopolitical tensions and economic interdependence has fundamentally transformed global trade architecture, with the return of protectionist policies under Trump 2.0 marking a critical juncture for international commerce. Global Value Chains (GVCs), representing the entire range of activities involved in bringing products to market across multiple countries, now face unprecedented disruption as nations prioritize security over efficiency. The escalating tariff wars, strategic decoupling initiatives, and weaponization of trade policy are accelerating the fragmentation of the liberal international economic order, forcing emerging economies like India to navigate an increasingly polarized geo-economic landscape.

Governments and companies are pursuing GVC resiliency through strategies like 'reshoring' and 'friend-shoring,' while geopolitical tensions create both parallel systems and new regional dynamics. This restructuring reflects broader geo- economic trends where economic interdependence is being securitized, challenging the efficacy of Bretton Woods institutions and potentially ushering in an era of hyper-protectionism that could fundamentally reshape international commerce.

This session will discuss the following themes:

Trump 2.0's impact on global trade and hyper-protectionism
Geopolitics transforming global value chains: COVID-19 and crisis lessons
Strategic future sectors: critical minerals, semiconductors, advanced technologies
Reshoring, friend-shoring, and parallel economic systems
India's geo-economic strategy: GVC participation to PLI-led leadership
Bretton Woods institutions: adaptation vs replacement
Alternative trade partnerships in a fragmented world

4. Minilaterals: Future-proofing strategic partnerships in the Indo-Pacific

As multilateral institutions like the UN become increasingly dysfunctional in the current global environment, there has been a significant rise of minilaterals. That said, the latter are not regarded as a replacement for multilateralism but as a means to strengthen it. Owing to their non-ideological and voluntary formats, minilaterals present a smart alternative to complex multilaterals and formal alliances. Against the backdrop of growing Chinese influence globally, but more specifically in Asia and the Indo-Pacific countries have sought to come together to respond to the resultant challenges. In the last few years, many such minilaterals have emerged in the Indo- Pacific to address issues that come under the ambit of both traditional as well non- traditional security.

The session will explore the evolving contours of the minilaterals of the Indo-Pacific that aim to address key issues like energy and food security, supply chain management, defence cooperation, technical cooperation amongst others. This session will examine these arrangements through functional categories: security- focused minilaterals (QUAD, AUKUS), economic and infrastructure initiatives (IMEC, I2U2), and sectoral/regional frameworks (IFU, IORA, IONS). For each minilateral, the discussion will analyze their genesis and objectives, key achievements and limitations, and future trajectory and challenges.

This session will discuss the following themes:

What is the future of strategic minilateralism in the Indo-Pacific?
QUAD: A strategic minilateral in a multipolar world?
IMEC, I2U2, IFU, AUKUS
India’s role in the minilaterals of the Indo-Pacific and its strategy of diversified partnerships
IORA, IONS: A moment of reckoning and transformation?
Challenges of institutional overlap and mechanisms for ensuring complementarity with multilateral frameworks

5. Diplomacy of Disruptive Technologies: International Regulatory Regimes for New and emerging Technologies

The rapid advancement of emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence, quantum systems, biotechnology, space innovations, and cybersecurity tools—is fundamentally altering international power structures. India occupies a unique position in this transformation, balancing its aspirations for technological independence with the necessity of global collaboration in an era where comprehensive international technology regulations remain underdeveloped. India's technological initiatives, particularly Digital India and the India Stack architecture, alongside its active participation in global AI governance forums, demonstrate its commitment to responsible technology leadership that prioritizes inclusive development. This positioning allows India to influence emerging technology norms while maintaining strategic autonomy in a landscape dominated by great power competition over technological supremacy.

This session will analyze India's strategy for navigating technology diplomacy, examining how the country can utilize its growing digital capabilities and democratic governance model to contribute to international technology regulation. The focus will be on India's management of dual-use technologies, its efforts to establish beneficial international partnerships, and its approach to maintaining technological sovereignty.

This session will include the following themes for discussion:

India's democratic technology governance approach
Semiconductor diplomacy and technological resilience
Digital sovereignty vs. global connectivity
Technology bridge for South-South cooperation
Dual-use technologies and cybersecurity frameworks

6. South Asia’s New Realities: India’s Path Forward

The South Asian region faces unprecedented transformation with political upheavals in Bangladesh, Pakistan's economic instability, Sri Lanka's recovery trajectory, and Afghanistan's Taliban consolidation fundamentally altering regional dynamics. These developments, coupled with intensifying great power competition and China's expanding influence through BRI, require India's strategic recalibration in managing evolving bilateral relationships and security cooperation mechanisms.

This session examines India's evolving South Asia policy framework, analyzing how New Delhi can leverage its economic growth, technological capabilities, and soft power to foster regional stability while addressing persistent challenges. The discussion will explore India's role in promoting regional integration through SAARC 5 alternatives, bilateral partnerships, and connectivity programs, while managing cross-border terrorism, refugee flows, and climate-induced migration alongside opportunities in renewable energy, digital infrastructure, and disaster management.