NATIONAL SEMINAR - CITIZEN’S FOREIGN POLICY - ON 11TH NOV 2014

ONE DAY NATIONAL SEMINAR ORGANISED BY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE RASHTRASANT TUKADOJI MAHARAJ NAGPUR UNIVERSITY ON CITIZEN’S FOREIGN POLICY

DATE: 11TH NOVEMBER 2014
VENUE: DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY AUDITORIUM, MAHATMA PHULE EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS, AMRAVATI ROAD, NAGPUR
NATIONAL SEMINAR - CITIZEN’S FOREIGN POLICY - ON 11TH NOV 2014
Equity, justice, development, welfare, rights, are not just the core philosophical or theoretical concepts of political science, but are equally the concepts that govern our international relations. Though the realist perspective sees it as simply idealistic a principle that does not have any place in the power governed international relations, yet they have been the very foundations of the developments ranging from the spread of democracy, human rights regimes, formation of multinational institutions, global concern for peace, development, environment and security. Cooperation amongst the nation/states have increased multifold to the extent that the present world had been termed as an age of interdependency, with globalization certainly integrating the world as never before[even at the cost of undermining the very institution of the state]. Foreign policy of any state thus cannot hand on to pragmatism without a sound base of the philosophy that needs to be promoted both within the nation as well as at the international relations. The need to understand and study foreign policy on the one hand and provide foreign policy inputs on the other seems to be more pressing today than earlier times, because like never before it is so profoundly affecting our daily mundane lives, right into the ‘gullies’ of the urbane locales or the hinterlands, the rural side, the economies, the cultures-both the local as well as the domestic- local and national politics.
However, though we have come to understand that the hinterland is getting profoundly affected by the policies of the nations they pursue, this very hinterland hardly is the part of it, or has any understanding of what is going to affect it by its very own national policies nor is informed by any analyzing sources. Foreign policy in most countries and even in democracies like India is very closed, so called specialized and high office deliberation and activity. Despite that the area has been developing fast and is considered to be one of the most dynamic disciplines, yet no such corresponding efforts are on ground for any systematic understanding and analysis of this disciplinary area. There is certainly a lack of purpose to even to an extent a loss of purpose when international relations and foreign policy as disciplines are taught in the local or the vernacular. Whether they need to be taught or there is any need for them to understand without any institutional support and environment, is the moot question, the answer of which is not difficult- but seems purposive at times.
The foreign policy today of any nation/state has been conceived from the point of national interest. This interest is above everything and it is the furtherance of this interest that every nation must pursue at the international stage. But, what constitutes this national interest, who constitutes it and on whose behalf, and what is the modus operandi for the perusal of this national interest are some of the pertinent questions that arise which needs to be sorted out to the last.
Twenty four years of the policy of liberalization has passed. Commentators have spoken on both the problems created by globalization as well as the benefits India has accrued from it. However, the people themselves are at loss both in terms of grasping the terms of globalization and unable to understand what is at stake one the one hand and on the other are not informed enough to take a position on it. Political Parties and the caste/class elites are therefore very comfortably placed to manipulate for their interests the opinions surrounding it to which the citizens are only mute spectators. They neither have any hand or the say in the setting of the agenda or its terms nor have enough voice post facto to alter it. Their only duty is to choose the agenda that had been set by the high-up’s either indifferently or by choice.
Similar is the positions on the debate on security which still is confined to the military aspect. The security of citizens defined in the terms of the perceptions of threat from the neighbouring powers or the perceived enemy countries. Defence and related expenditures therefore remain the high priority that naturally follows up the logic of threat perception. Moreover, this argument is made to overshadow the arguments of the human development indices in which India had always remained wanting and have stood behind even the many backward countries. It is quite true with the Chinese saying that if patriotism is the last resort of a political class. This political class is not limited to the electorally represented class but all those who are at the helms of power having control over the distributive process of the national resources. The fear is the subversion of the distributive process once the focus of security of the Indian nation is shifted from the militaristic notions to the concept of human security.
Modern democracies suffer from certain discrepancies, out of which one most important one is its inability to completely displace the structures of distribution that are operational at the societal levels which certainly is the public space on the one hand and the family –which is the private space on the other. These distributive processes are marred by the composition of the caste/class and gender systems in India. They subvert the democratic process by keeping the formal democratic structure intact. These discrepancies can only be addressed by more citizens’ control over the democratic process of this country. Foreign policy too is one area that needs greater citizens’ scrutiny and control. The proxy system must come to an end towards a more open and representative method of policy making.
Political regime change confront foreign policy dilemmas as to whether the instituted political regime should or have the liberty to substantially alter the foreign policy initiatives of its earlier government, or the new regime is doomed to continue with the policy perspectives and initiatives of the earlier government. To an extent it seemed in India, foreign policy initiatives remained sacred writ like taboo and continuity is a sacrosanct law. However, this had hardly remained substantiated and proven against the contrary. Though the international provides ample opportunity to break the taboo, the foreign policy establishments remain by and large insulated in favour of continuity that does not drastically disturb the structure and the system of the establishment. Probably, the present
bureaucratic structure is not equipped enough to take up such sudden changes. This brings us to the reforms in the foreign policy establishments and structures in India. However, both continuity and change in the foreign policy must warrant the democratic participation of the citizenry.
What seems however is that the discouragement to the general population to understand the international and the national policy and the restriction of the foreign policy within the bureaucratic and high circles have not lonely concentrated the issues of power and power over issues into the few hands but have also opened up the doors to question as to who decides for whom- the issue that we raised in the beginning. Who are at the helms of affairs nationally and for whom these power elites basically decides. In India who are these power elites, what agendas do they formulate and who is to be benefitted from the outcome of such agenda. India’s foreign policy, thus, will have to undergo the problematique of such interpretation and will have to face questions more nuanced in nature than the overtones of nationalism has to offer. The challenge is therefore to challenge the conventional notion of thinking International relations as well as foreign policy in India from a citizens perspective and to offer a fresh insight.
Aim: To establish a citizens perspective to International Relations and Foreign Policy of India in particular for the initiation of the democratization of Foreign Policy process in India.
Objectives: The objectives of the Citizens Foreign Policy initiative is to draw primacy of the domestic over the international and thereby also bring into primacy issues hereto been perspectivised within the old conventional models of power politics. The initiative has the following threads that lead to the exploration of this perspective.
1. To provide primacy of the domestic over the international.
2. To prioritize the international and their terms.
3. To bestow primacy to the issues of development, welfare, human security, human rights, environment, technologies and their transfer, universal education, international institutions and regimes etc.
4. To establish cooperation and interdependency approaches contradistinction to confrontation and non-interference as policy approach
5. To establish formal institutional mechanisms of the training of International relations as well as foreign policy inputs, dissemination, and feedback.
Sub themes:
1. The challengeable in the foreign policy debates in India
2. What should be the citizens Agenda of Foreign Policy of India
3. Engagement with the world- at what terms
4. Democratizing India’s Foreign Policy making.
5. International cooperation and interdependency
6. Educating International relations and foreign policy in India.
7. Foreign policy inputs, dissemination and feedback.
Call for Papers
Papers are invited on the above theme for presentation. The initial draft should reach the organizers on or before 1st of November 2014 by mail on vikasnagpur@gmail.com. Final draft of the paper is possibly expected by 5th of November 2014 or at the time of presentation. The select papers are expected to be published in a book form.
Guidelines for authors
The Paper has to be submitted in the following format:
1. A hard copy and an Electronic copy via E-mail has to be submitted on the email id.
2. Paper Length: Full paper length should not exceed 4000 words.
3. Fonts: Font Type: Times New Roman; Font Size (text) : 12, Font Size (Tables and Figures) : 10.
4. For Marathi: soft copy in Kruti dev 10, email in pdf format.
Registration:
The participants are required to fill the prescribed registration form provided along with the brochure. Participants can also use a photocopy of the Registration form. Registration will not be accepted without submitting the registration fee.
Registration Fee: a. For participants and faculties employed- Rs. 500/-
b. For students and research scholars not employed- 250/-
(The participants will be provided with the participation/presentation certificate, seminar kit including folder, pad and pen, Lunch and Refreshment)
List of Expected Speakers
1. Dr. Vikas Jambhulkar
2. Dr. Mohan Kashikar
3. Dr. Parimal Maya Sudhakar
4. Dr. Shailendra Deolankar
5. Dr. Mrudul Nile
6. Dr. Shivaji Kumar
7. Dr. Manish Dabhade
8. Dr. Rajesh Kharat
9. Dr. Vijay Khare
10. Dr. Ketkar
11. Dr. KishorWankhade
12. Dr. Harish Wankhade
Convenor
Dr. M. Kashikar
Professor and Head, Department of Political Science,
RTM Nagpur University.
Mob- 9822940635
Programme director
Dr. Vikas Jambhulkar
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science,
RTM Nagpur University Nagpur
Mob- 09923431515; vikasnagpur@gmail.com

REGISTRATION FORM