Context:
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Indo-U.S. relations have transformed significantly over two decades.
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In 2005, the U.S. viewed India’s rise as beneficial for strengthening the global order.
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The U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) 2025 signals a more inward-looking America focused on burden-shifting, conditional partnerships, and prioritizing narrow national interests.
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This shift reshapes India’s strategic environment in an increasingly fragmented world order.
Key Highlights:
2005: Partnership of Shared Possibilities
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The U.S. aimed to help India become a major world power, based on shared optimism.
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The belief was that empowering responsible rising powers would strengthen global stability.
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This approach led to landmark cooperation such as the India–U.S. Civil Nuclear Deal.
2025: Shift Towards National Reassurance
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The NSS 2025 reflects a desire to lighten America’s global load, treating leadership as a cost to be minimized.
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U.S. foreign policy now emphasizes:
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American vulnerabilities
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Domestic cohesion
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Reduced external commitments
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India Reframed in U.S. Strategy
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India is increasingly framed as part of the U.S. China containment strategy, rather than as an independent civilizational actor.
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Partnerships are becoming more instrumental and interest-driven.
Conditional Alliances and Burden-Sharing
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The U.S. expects partners to assume primary responsibility for their own regions, offering limited support.
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Alliances are now more transactional, contingent on U.S. priorities.
Monroe Doctrine Revival
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The “Trump Corollary” suggests hemispheric exclusivity, indicating a U.S. retreat into its own sphere of influence.
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This inwardness reduces the certainty of long-term U.S. commitments abroad.
Significance / Concerns
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India must recognize that U.S. support will increasingly be:
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Conditional
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Issue-based
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Linked to strategic competition with China
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Relevant Prelims Points:
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National Security Strategy (NSS): A formal U.S. document outlining strategic priorities, threats, and foreign policy goals.
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Strategic Autonomy: India’s ability to make independent foreign policy choices without overdependence on any major power.
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The evolving Indo-U.S. partnership reflects shifting global power equations and U.S. recalibration.
Benefits + Challenges + Impact
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Benefit: Continued cooperation in Indo-Pacific security and technology.
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Challenge: Reduced guarantees, more demands on India for regional responsibility.
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Impact: India must strengthen self-reliance in defence, economy, and diplomacy.
Relevant Mains Points:
Conceptual Shift in Global Order
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2005 represented confidence in liberal global partnerships.
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2025 reflects a fragmented order where:
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Alliances are conditional
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Institutions weaken
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Power becomes transactional
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Implications for India
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India’s rise will depend on:
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Material capacity (economic + military strength)
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Strategic confidence
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Regional leadership independent of external guarantees
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India’s Role in a Fragmented World
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India must craft a global role suited to its:
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Scale and interests
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Civilizational temperament
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Multipolar realities
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Way Forward
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India should:
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Deepen ties with the U.S. while avoiding overdependence
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Strengthen strategic autonomy through diversified partnerships (EU, ASEAN, Global South)
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Invest in indigenous defence and economic resilience
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Lead issue-based coalitions in Indo-Pacific governance
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UPSC Relevance (GS-wise):
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GS 2 (International Relations): Indo-U.S. relations, NSS shift, China strategy, conditional alliances
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Essay/IR: Multipolarity, decline of liberal order, India’s strategic autonomy