Possibly, part of the explanation could be what was told to Peter Parker when he reluctantly launched his career as Spiderman — “with great power comes great responsibility”. India’s apparent unwillingness to take on this responsibility appears, to outsiders at least, as if it wants to be a ‘free rider’. However, it also displays certain structural weaknesses within institutions that handle diplomatic, military, economic and political power. As highlighted by other commentators, India lacks the ‘soft infrastructure’ of foreign and defence policy. Finally, the discordance between the military and the MOD was on display at the conference. It will be appropriate to keep in mind for the future that, “great power comes from great institutions.”

Part of the problem is that the past, in terms of institutional memory and knowledge, is largely unknown. Despite repeated calls for initiating a declassification procedure that opens up archives, a political-bureaucratic nexus has stymied all efforts. As a result scholars, institutions and the country as a whole suffer from a lack of self-knowledge. For instance, there is not one impartial or scholarly account of the functioning of the MEA, MOD, MHA, armed forces, paramilitary or even the police forces! Instead, what we have are self-serving accounts written by former officials who, then, emerge as ‘experts’ in their own domain. In effect, by not examining our past we are largely ignorant about it. This translates, directly, into not knowing where we are in the present in terms of our strengths and weaknesses and, as a consequence, are unable to plan for the future. In sum, India’s so called lack of ‘strategic culture’ can be directly attributed to this problem.

... contd.