IndiaScope: G20 in India: Microcosm of Fractured World
After taking over from Indonesia as the host of G20 this year, India chose to have the meetings in different cities rather than concentrate them in the capital.
When I was in Mumbai late last year, the G20 Development Working Group had just kicked off their meeting, and the city’s Sea Link and heritage landmarks were beautifully lit with colors of the Indian flag. Many of the major arteries were similarly bedecked, and its slums temporarily obscured by makeshift panels emblazoned with the G20 logo that attempted to hide the poverty from the visitors’ views.
Last month in Bangalore, the G20 welcomed finance ministers of member countries who together account for 85% of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population. This month, foreign ministers met in Delhi. At both venues, talks on development, sustainability, inclusive growth, disaster and debt relief, food and energy supply, etc. were on the cards. At least, that was the agenda India and some other countries hoped to focus the meetings on. The slogan for India’s presidency—Vasudhaiva Kutubakam (One Earth. One Family. One Future) underlined the importance of these issues, with India as spokesperson for the global south.
However, the war in Ukraine has derailed the G20 so far. A joint communique, which is the norm at the end of the finance ministers’ meeting, was not drafted because there was no unity among the members, and indeed, in the wake of the war, some even refused to acknowledge others. Even S. Jaishankar, India’s skilled external affairs minister, could not coax everybody to sign a statement of common intent.
In Delhi, where the foreign ministers met, Prime Minister Modi noted that the structures of global governance—the “rules-based order” that the West talks about—have failed miserably if the last few years are any example, rife as they have been with health and economic crises, rancor, and war. He was also correct to point out that the world’s poorest have borne the brunt of these failures, as they have with the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has led to famine in some countries and economic crises and dislocations in others. Despite the host’s best intentions, global geopolitics torpedoed discussions as Western delegates focused on calling out Russia.
The G20, hence, has become a microcosm of global strains and ruptures, while at the same time highlighting the important position that India has come to hold in the world. It is today a country that is trusted by both the U.S. and Russia, and yet has the strength to resist falling into either camp. It plays the vital (if yet very subdued) role of urging parties to end the war, solve the crises that it has begotten, and focus on the world’s dishearteningly numerous critical problems. The antagonists listen respectfully when India speaks. Other delegates like the Saudi foreign minister have tweeted how much they have appreciated the gracious hosting and India itself, and the German foreign minister insisted that the two countries had much in common, including “democracy.” It is interesting that the Modi government seems to have the embrace of Western leaders even while the Western media continue to point out its flaws and authoritarian bent—as seen, most recently, in India’s banning of the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots.
Perhaps India’s insistence on welcoming Russian foreign minister Lavrov to the meeting despite Western pressure to disinvite him, while still condemning the war itself, will show a way forward to a world that seems stuck. At least for now, the world must listen to the perspective of the global south and perhaps seek an end to the seemingly endless conflict that has sucked all the air and energy out of the global will to solve any other world problem. In a surprising turn, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell joined global south leaders in lamenting that the G20 had become an arena for strategic policy discussions instead of economic ones, and offered a glimmer of hope when he said that he saw a “small improvement” in member relationships.
But optimism is not easy to come by. There was no breakthrough between the U.S. and Russia, nor between India and China, whose foreign ministers also met but did not reach any agreements or smoothing of relations. It is a sober reminder that the state of the world is not good.
Tinaz Pavri is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Spelman College, Atlanta. A recipient of the Donald Wells Award from the Georgia Political Science Association, she’s the author of the memoir Bombay in the Age of Disco: City, Community, Life.
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