“India is increasingly being framed as a major player from the Global South and, to some extent, there is also recognition that it is significantly growing and is going to be a bigger actor on the world stage, but there is a bit of confusion about its identity,” said Dr Chaulia.

Much of the confusion about India’s identity has to do with questions such as: Is India a “wannabe” great power? Is India a reluctant super-power? Is India a leader of the Global South? Is India a hegemon in Asia or at least in a sub-region of South Asia? Is India just a sub-continental power that is confined to the South Asian environment or is it going to adopt a more expansive identity as a global power?

According to Dr Chaulia, the manner in which foreign policy-makers address these questions will shape India’s future.

There is a disconnect between decisions taken by policy-makers and what the educated elite desire for India moving forward. The educated elite believe that as a member of the BRICS group (along with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa) and the G77, India needs to be propelled to a higher level of influence on the world stage. However, policy-makers and bureaucrats – and Indian society in general – are not “goal oriented” and as focused on foreign policy issues as they are on domestic issues, said Dr Chaulia. “There is a lag in diplomacy; our diplomats are not as proactive and goal-driven as, maybe, the Chinese [are].”

For India to affirm itself as a super-power, attitudes towards foreign policy being an academic matter need to change and India’s government needs to be more decisive about the country’s international role – including whether it wants to be a super-power. According to Dr Chaulia, India is still regarded as a “soft-power state” and seems to be “reluctant super-power”. For example, India has troops deployed in United Nations peace-keeping missions in Africa, yet the country fails to take a firm position on issues of war at the United Nations.

Another issue in the spotlight is whether India would be able to counterbalance China. Although they share mutually beneficial trade agreements, China’s economy is still five times bigger than that of India; the country has a lot of catching up to do if it is to surpass China in asserting itself as a south Asian super-power.

“There is a benefit in knowing the world,” said Dr Chaulia – and to assert itself as a super-power, India needs to know its position in the world and the influence it wants to have in order to take firm policy decisions in realising its aspirations.