India's Hedging Strategy in Great Power Competition*

Abstract

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, countries from the global South, including India, were accused of sitting on the fence between the USA and Russia when they refused to join the Western coalition's call to defend the international order against the challengers, namely Russia and China. India as a pivotal state has adopted strategic hedging to avoid taking sides in the ongoing US–Russia and US–China rivalries by engaging all sides. It has adopted mutually counteracting “return-maximizing” and “risk-contingency” measures to mitigate the harm of each strategic choice in an era of emerging great-power competition. India's success in hedging against the uncertainties surrounding the future of the international order helps it to extract commercial concessions and preserve its strategic autonomy simultaneously. By utilizing the concept of hedging strategy, the article explains how India navigates the great-power competition in the economic, diplomatic, and military realms.