India has initiated its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this year. For the eighth time, India will sit at the 15-nation UNSC table, so it is imperative to take a look at India’s journey in the United Nations (UN) to get a better understanding of what lies ahead of New Delhi, and how India can further its national goals at the biggest multilateral stage in the world.

India is a founding member of the United Nations, which then included Pakistan and Bangladesh, and due to its large population, vast area, and diverse society, Mahatma Gandhi felt that India should become a veto-wielding member of the Security Council. 

India has been enthusiastically engaged with the Security Council ever since it became independent country in 1947, and participated in UN General Assembly’s matters pro-actively. Even under different governments, and despite falling out of favour with the Council over Kashmir and the issue of disarmament in the past, India’s foreign policy has, by and large, followed a realistic and pragmatic approach. Indeed, India’s contribution to the working of the UN has been substantial.

At the very first session of the UN, India had raised its voice against colonialism and apartheid, and as decolonisation began to change the face of the world, India positioned itself as the Third World or Non-Aligned voice on the Council. India hoped that the UN system would be democratised by the trade union of decolonised nations.

India’s relationship with UNSC began with India’s most contentious issue till date – when India first went to the Security Council on January 1st, 1948 to submit a complaint against Pakistan.

India was first elected as the non-permanent member of the Security Council during 1950-51. During the tenure, the Council adopted three resolutions on the India-Pakistan question, and took three other decisions; on all of which India abstained. India, as President of UNSC, presided over the adoption of resolutions calling for cessation of hostilities during the Korean War, and for assistance to Republic of Korea.

The Ups and Downs

The relationship soured between India and UNSC which led many in India to feel that India is still paying the price of going to the UN over Kashmir. However, the Kashmir debates of 1957 were instrumental in strengthening the Security Council’s authority under Chapter VI and Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The then Indian Defence Minister, Krishna Menon, insisted that the Security Council must decide under Article 39 in Chapter VII if it wished to enforce its decisions.

The 1960s and 1970s seemed to be even worse decades for India’s relations with the Council. India approached UN seeking disarmament treaty after China conducted nuclear test in 1964, and in response, New Delhi was targeted with the Non-proliferation Treaty. During the second term in 1967-68, India co-sponsored Resolution 238 extending mandate of UN mission in Cyprus.

India raised the issue of bloodbath happening in the erstwhile East Pakistan, and intervened in the crisis in 1971 on humanitarian account to end one of the world’s biggest genocides on religious basis after World War II, but this move gardened little support from western countries, especially from United States which militarily supported Pakistan in the war breakout between two neighbours in South-East Asia. A Soviet veto prevented the Security Council to impose sanctions on India for its humanitarian intervention in the conflict which created new State in the region.

During its third term in 1972-73, India pushed strongly for admission of Bangladesh into UN, but resolution was not adopted because of a veto by a permanent member.

In the fourth term as non-permanent member of the council in 1977-78, India raised a strong voice for Africa in the UNSC against apartheid, and the then External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke in the council for Namibia’s independence.

In 1984-85, India was a leading voice in UNSC for resolution of conflicts in Middle East, especially in Palestine and Lebanon during its fourth term.

However, despite drafting numerous resolutions on transforming the world in the 1970s and 1980s, India’s early vision was far from being realised.

India has been criticised for possessing such a naïve opinion of the UN Security Council, which a leading Indian sociologist has termed as a “bazaar (market) for the trading of interests between major powers.” In spite of this, India proved that it was at the forefront of the international scene, and did provide an alternative voice to the Cold war rival blocks by leading the Non-Aligned Movement of decolonised nations.

India was an early champion of the concept of peaceful co-existence between the communist bloc and the free world. That alternate voice was then being heard, and several of the subsequent reform proposals insisted on the inclusion of countries from the developing world so that the Global South is adequately represented on the Council.

Indian foreign policy is said to combine ‘Gandhian non-violence with a touch of Kissinger-like pragmatism’. India is traditionally seen as a peace-loving country with non-aggression and non-interference as the cornerstone of its Panchsheel policy. Its commitment to the UN Charter, and maintenance of peace and security – a guiding factor in the selection of additional Council members – is evidenced by the fact that India has been an energetic and influential participant in the UN debates on peacekeeping.

What now?

India enters into Security Council for the third time since the end of the Cold War with the changing dynamics that it encountered during the earliest stints in 1991-92 and 2011-12. The political complexion of the permanent members changed dramatically, especially China, which is rising as Asian hegemon, and threatening the global democratic order.

The other members have consistently put their national interests ahead of any collective interests, especially US under Trump administration which moved towards protectionism and defied all the multilateral principles during its term from unilaterally backing off from JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) to threatening to stop funding World Health Organisation (WHO), going against the implicit provision in the UN Charter which conferred responsibility on them for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Despite the Charter provision that the veto should not be used for procedural issues, the P5 (five permanent members of the UNSC) are allowed to use their veto implicitly in many closed-door consultations. This largely unaccountable nature of the Security Council came under attack by the General Assembly (GA), which has increased in size from 51 in 1945 to 191 presently.

P5’s unprecedented powers, and their right to veto, have been a major source of tension between the GA and P5, leading the former to press for Security Council reform. The Security Council has been widely viewed as unrepresentative and lacking in credibility.

India’s national interests have also dynamically changed and shifted to different theatres from the perspective of national security, and India has expanded the list of its international partners and strategic allies.

New Delhi’s approach to current stint at UNSC will be more purposeful and pragmatic – purposefulness is about tightly integrating its UNSC engagement with India’s broader national goals, while pragmatism demands adapting to the changed conditions at the UNSC and avoiding overly ambitious goals – reflecting in its attitude shift from the reactive to the proactive.

The eighth term for India at Security Council is juxtaposed with the intractable differences between the US and China which would make the UNSC far more contentious to walk into. The tensions between the two largest economies of the world reached new heights with Trump declaring the trade-war against China, accusing Beijing for levying high-tariffs on US imports, and providing state subsidies to Chinese companies. This rendered American companies less competitive in Chinese market which itself is highly regulated by Chinese communist party. The problem of intellectual property theft hurt the American economy which led Trump to announce more protectionist policies in US, and slap reverse tariffs on Chinese goods.

China, along with exploiting countries with its economic policies, and favouring its own companies, has also risen to be a great power, making expansive claims in its neighbourhood, and investing militarily, coupled with deploying its wolf warrior diplomats; as it seems proving itself to be totally a revisionist state.

The United Nations is facing strong challenges from multiple direction exposing the shortcomings, which turned out to be failures, of post-World War II multilateral order. The pillars of global governance are undergoing rapid transformation towards undemocratic processes and unilateral world, institutional infirmities are being revealed, and a normative shift is becoming increasingly self-evident. As India joins UNSC at the critical juncture with an aim to shape rules in the international system, and not merely be a follower, stakes could not be any higher.

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This story is part of a package. Two more related stories to come.