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Security in the Contemporary World 77 the South Asian region, India’s the country. Several militant decision to conduct nuclear groups from areas such as the tests in 1998 was justified by the Nagaland, Mizoram, the Punjab, Indian government in terms of and Kashmir among others have, safeguarding national security. from time to time, sought to India first tested a nuclear device break away from India. India in 1974. has tried to preserve national The second component of unity by adopting a democratic political system, which allows India’s security strategy has been different communities and groups to strengthen international norms and international institutions of people to freely articulate their to protect its security interests. grievances and share political power. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, supported Finally, there has been an the cause of Asian solidarity, attempt in India to develop its decolonisation, disarmament, economy in a way that the vast and the UN as a forum in which mass of citizens are lifted out international conflicts could be of poverty and misery and huge settled. India also took initiatives economic inequalities are not to bring about a universal allowed to exist. The attempt and non-discriminatory non- has partially succeeded; we are proliferation regime in which all advancing towards overcoming countries would have the same poverty and inequality. Yet rights and obligations with respect democratic politics allows spaces to weapons of mass destruction forarticulatingthevoiceofthepoor (nuclear, biological, chemical). and the deprived citizens. There is It argued for an equitable New a pressure on the democratically International Economic Order elected governments to combine (NIEO). Most importantly, it used economic growth with human non-alignment to help carve out development. Thus democracy an area of peace outside the bloc is not just a political ideal; a politics of the two superpowers. democratic government is also a India joined 160 countries that way to provide greater security. have signed and ratified the 1997 You will read more about the Kyoto Protocol, which provides a successes and failures of Indian roadmapforreducingtheemissions democracy in this respect in the ofgreenhousegasestocheckglobal textbook on politics in India sinceCompare the warming. Indian troops have been independence. expenditure by the Indian sent abroad on UN peacekeeping missions in support of cooperative government security initiatives. on traditional security with its The third component of Indian expenditure on securitystrategyisgearedtowards non-traditional meetingsecuritychallengeswithin security. Reprint 2026-27