Club Lunch: The Modi Model: A Break from India’s Past?

Speaker: Professor Madhav Nalapat
UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University

MONDAY, JULY 14, 2014

12:45pm – Lunch
1:15PM – ADDRESS
1st FLOOR

Topic: The Modi Model: A Break from India’s Past?

Narendra Modi comes from Gujarat, a relatively prosperous province in the west of India. Its people have settled across the globe, doing remarkably well wherever a business-friendly environment exists, such as in the US or the UK. Rather than chase after ideological hobby horses in the manner of Nehru, Modi can be expected to put economics at the core of his foreign policy. The first step, carried out as early as May 26, the day he was sworn in as prime minister, was to seek a cooperative relationship with India’s subcontinent neighbors, while the next will be an outreach to all major powers, principally the US and China. In Europe, Germany more than the UK can be expected to be the primary partner, given its skills in vocational training and manufacturing. In East Asia, the new Prime Minister is likely to balance ties with Japan and China, looking for investment and markets from both. Modi is promising to use the External Affairs Ministry to help businesses. The speaker contends that Modi has the practicality of Deng together with a Thatcherite commitment to conservative values. With Modi as prime minister, the country – and its friends and neighbors – are in for interesting times.

Professor Madhav Nalapat, UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University, was appointed India’s first-ever Professor of Geopolitics in 1998. He is also Senior Associate, the National Institute of Advanced Studies; Associate, the United Services Institution; Advisor, Technology Academy; Editorial Director, The Sunday Guardian