India’s and Russia’s approaches to the Indo-Pacific—marrying the two

Abstract

The paper discusses the prerequisites for the emergence of the Indo-Pacific region, or Indo-Pacific, as a conceptual term to denote a new vast geostrategic space that embraces closely connected countries facing similar challenges. To this end, the article analyzes geopolitical transformations that have brought about a change in the conceptualization of this macro-region and India’s foreign policy strategy. The paper provides an overview of neorealist and constructivist approaches characteristic of Moscow and New Delhi, respectively. The paper argues that today Russia’s involvement in the region is limited and by focusing on the Asia-Pacific Russia overlooks the vistas of closer relations with India. Russia could gain more if it changes its perception of the Indo-Pacific as an American concept and takes a different, constructivist approach. By ignoring new realities Russia deprives itself of additional opportunities in Asia, which is especially important in view of its general turn to the East and amid unceasing confrontation with the West.