Maintaining Strategic Autonomy in an Interdependent World

Volume:34
Issue:4
Debate

As I have understood Bharat Wariavwalla’s thoughtful article, and from the current discourse on geostrategic global balance, three central issues can be raised. First, we live in an interdependent world that is the outcome of a globalised economy. Therefore, no country can expect to wield unconstrained power or strategic hegemony, which allows it to disregard either universally accepted behavioural norms or even national sovereignty. Therefore, it is irrelevant to talk of a unipolar world. Second, the US, though still the strongest strategic player in the world, is tied in a tight economic embrace with China, which was not the case with the Soviet Union, and so will find it difficult to take any precipitate action even when China does push forward to assert its own global ambitions. Therefore, a core duopoly within an interdependent world can be visualised for the foreseeable future.