Description
Towards the end of India’s 2021-2022 term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, its External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India had ‘sought to be the voice of the global South on many issues of concern… [and] tried to not only articulate their interests and anxieties but also tried to see whether we could serve as a bridging role in the Council.’ This is in keeping with India’s political legacy at the United Nations. However, the ‘interests and anxieties’ of countries in the global South are increasingly fragmented; India, on its part, has adopted a ‘multi-aligned’ foreign policy approach, even as it has retained its historical role. The proposed paper seeks to critically assess the ways in which India sought to be the voice of the Global South during its seventh (2011-2012) and eighth (2021-2022) terms as a non-permanent member, through a close examination of its statements at the Council’s Open Debates as well as additional primary data. The findings shed light on India’s difficult balancing act as well as South-North dynamics at the Security Council.
