Foreign Policy to Play a Marginal Role in Indian Elections

Foreign Policy to Play a Marginal Role in Indian Elections

The biggest electoral show on earth is now under way in India. But despite India's reputation as a growing power on the international stage, foreign policy is set to play at most a marginal role in the decisions of most of its estimated 714 million voters.

"I think foreign policy comes up mostly for the English-speaking urban elite and for the television audiences," says Lawrence Prabhakar, associate professor of political science at Madras Christian College. "But for India's hinterland, particularly the rural areas, there's no debate at all on foreign policy. . . . By and large 90 percent of the issues are going to be domestic."

With about 220 million still living below the poverty line, according to a 2007 government estimate, many Indians are understandably more concerned about bread and butter issues. And an Internet penetration rate of just 7.1 percent, according to Internet World Stats, means there is little chance the glossy Web sites offered by the leading parties will steer voters from their local concerns.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review