India has maintained good relations with all post-communist countries. India’s relations with Russia are an important aspect of India’s foreign policy. Actors of Indian cinema from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan are household names in Russia and many post-Soviet countries. One can hear Hindi film songs all over the region, and India is part of popular memory. More than 80 bilateral agreements have been signed between India and Russia as part of the Indo-Russian Strategic Agreement of 2001.

Relation between Russia and Mutual 

Mutual Benefits: Russia and India share a vision of a multipolar world order and theirs is a relationship of mutual benefit. India stands to benefit from its relationship with Russia on issues like Kashmir, energy supplies, sharing information on international terrorism, access to Central Asia, and balancing its relations with China.

• Military Relation:  Indian military gets most of its hardware from Russia. 
  • Russia stands to benefit from this relationship because India is the second largest arms market for Russia.
• Oil Import: Since India is an oil-importing nation, Russia is important to India and has repeatedly come to the assistance of India during its oil crises.
  •  India is seeking to increase its energy imports from Russia and the republics of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Cooperation with these republics includes partnership and investment in oilfields. 
• Scientific Cooperation: Russia is important for India’s nuclear energy plans and assisted India’s space industry by giving, for example, cryogenic rockets when India needed them. 
  • Russia and India have collaborated on various scientific projects.
• End of Bipolarity: After end of bipolar structure of world politics in the early 1990s, it became clear that alternative centres of political and economic power could limit America’s dominance. 
• Rise of Regional Blocs: Thus, in Europe, European Union (EU) and, in Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), emerged as forces to reckon with. 
• Regional Cooperation: While evolving regional solutions to their historical enmities and weaknesses, both EU and ASEAN have developed alternative institutions and conventions that build a more peaceful and cooperative regional order and have transformed countries in the region into prosperous economies.

European Union

Foundations of European Integration

• Cold War and Marshall Plan: European integration after 1945 was aided by the Cold War.

• • America extended massive financial help to revive Europe’s economy under the ‘Marshall Plan’.
• Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC): Under the Marshall Plan,  OECC was established in 1948 to channel aid to Western European states.
• Political Cooperation: Council of Europe, established in 1949, was another step forward in political cooperation. 
  • The process of economic integration of European capitalist countries proceeded step by step (see Timeline of European Integration) leading to formation of European Economic Community in 1957.
• Collapse of Soviet Bloc and EU: After collapse of Soviet bloc put Europe on a fast track and resulted in the establishment of European Union in 1992. 
  • Its foundation was laid for a common foreign and security policy, cooperation on justice and home affairs, and the creation of a single currency.

• EU as a State: The EU has its flag, anthem, founding date, and currency but failed to get its constitution. 
• EU as a Global Power: The EU had economic, political, diplomatic, and military influence.
  • The EU is world’s second-biggest economy with a GDP of more than $17 trillion in 2016, next to that of the United States of America. 
  • Its currency, Euro, can pose a threat to dominance of US dollar. 
  • Its share of world trade is much larger than that of United States allowing it to be more assertive in trade disputes with US and China.
  • Militarily, EU’s combined armed forces are 2nd largest in world. Its total spending on defense is second after US. 
    • One EU member state, France, also has a nuclear arsenal of approximately 335 nuclear warheads. It is also world’s second most important source of space and communications technology.
    • On political and diplomatic grounds, France is a permanent member of UNSC.

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Founding Members: ASEAN was established in 1967 by five countries of this region — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand — by signing Bangkok Declaration. (Refer Figure 11.7)

• Objective: The objectives of ASEAN were primarily to accelerate economic growth and through that ‘social progress and cultural development’.
  • A secondary objective was to promote regional peace and stability based on rule of law and principles of the United Nations Charter.
• A Loose Association: Unlike the EU there is little desire in ASEAN for supranational structures and institutions.
• ASEAN Community: In 2003, ASEAN moved along path of EU by agreeing to establish an ASEAN Community comprising three pillars, namely, 
  • The ASEAN Security Community, 
  • The ASEAN Economic Community and 
  • The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
• Security Architecture: The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which was established in 1994, is organization that carries out coordination of security and foreign policy.
• Way of Diplomacy: ASEAN countries have adopted the ‘ASEAN way’ as a form of interaction that is informal, non-confrontational, and cooperative.
• Economic Integration: ASEAN has focused on creating a Free Trade Area (FTA) for investment, labour, and services. 
  • The US and China have already moved fast to negotiate FTAs with ASEAN.
• Global Outlook: Its Vision 2020 has defined an outward-looking role for ASEAN in international community. 
  • This builds on the existing ASEAN policy to encourage negotiation over regional conflicts.
  • India signed trade agreements with three ASEAN members, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. 
    • The ASEAN-India FTA came into effect in 2010.

Conclusion

India’s close relations with former communist nations, particularly Russia, demonstrate its focus on strategic, economic, and cultural interests. Russia backs India’s position on Kashmir, provides energy and military equipment, and cooperates on scientific projects. Global politics has been transformed by the decline of the bipolar world order and the emergence of regional blocs such as the EU and ASEAN. India uses its connections with these groups to promote cooperation within the region, boost economic development, and ensure political stability, ultimately strengthening its global presence.

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