Description
This paper explores the role of friendship as a tool for boosting self-confidence among rising powers, focusing on India’s evolving foreign policy discourse. “Friendship” has recently become commonplace in India’s diplomatic lexicon, with leaders—including its Prime Minister—referring to India as Vishwa Mitra (friend of the world). This study draws on emerging literature on friendship in International Relations (IR) to understand how India leverages this notion to enhance its image as a confident, active participant in the international system. Rising powers like India experience “risingness” as a “socio-political condition” (Kristensen, 2019) that calls for self-confidence—a blend of self-affirmation, risk-taking, and a departure from established patterns of behavior—in order to legitimize their rise. This involves establishing meaningful relationships with major powers in ways that demonstrate trust and commitment. India’s recent tilt towards the West, despite its historical anti-West leanings, can be understood as a reflection of this phenomenon. Accordingly, this paper analyzes India’s changing foreign policy on Israel, a country with which it historically avoided forging close ties. It argues that recent and repeated public affirmations of friendship with Israel reflect India’s attempts to showcase self-confidence as a rising power, ready to break with tradition and announce its arrival on the world stage.
