PRIORITISING PRINCIPLES

It is only the stubborn maintenance of principles through balance of power that can end wars, prevent them and ensure peace and stability

- DK Giri

Since Independence, India sought to conduct its foreign policy on principles-Non-Alignment, Panchsheel (Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence), and off late, focus on dialogue and diplomacy, an unwavering commitment to a rules-based international order, under the world institutions. But admittedly, international relations have sunk to the bottom of moral stupor. It is hard to believe and impossible to accept the depth of degradation.

I was aghast to hear this dismal and helpless acceptance of the burial of principles in a diplomatic get-together. I was part of the discussion. The Ambassador of Morocco, serving in India for over nine years, a polished, experienced and articulate diplomat remarked, “The world now is driven by the policy of ‘might is right’”, the famous Darwinian theory. I sat there in utter shock to hear the public acceptance of this ‘dark reality’. When national and international politics were structured, mainly after the World War-II, during the creation of national democracies and the UN, the idea was to burry Darwin’s concept and set principles of justice, fairness, freedom, equality, solidarity and so on.

How did the world begin to resurrect Darwin? There could be many reasons. But the principal one is the unbridled greed of the countries for power. Lord Acton’s famous and profound statement then came into action, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Power has corrupted the thinking of the leadership of the so-called powerful countries. The existing world institutions have failed to check the misuse of power. Lord Acton had warned way back in the 19th Century that unchecked authority can erode ethical principles and lead to abuse of power. So it has been.

There have been two phases in world politics that marked the urge for acquisition of power by several countries.