OSW

SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2024

Arms Flows as Indicators of Geopolitical Alignments – India’s Position in a Multipolar World Order

Name

Amey Pratap Singh Rathore

Major

Political Economy / Public Policy

Class

2024

About

My name is Amey Pratap Singh Rathore, and I am currently majoring in political economy with a track in
public policy.

Signature Work Project Overview

This project is a culmination of 4 years of thinking, and one year of substantive work to answer some deep-seated questions about international politics that have always invoked my curiosity and intrigue. In
generally trying to understand State behavior in international politics, my key inquiry for the project was if
and how India’s foreign strategy might change in the coming years, and what factors might contribute to it.
Therefore, the key goal of the project was to determine India’s geopolitical position in a highly dynamic
multipolar world order.

The foundation for this project was grounded in key theories of international relations. I then conducted a
quantitative and qualitative analysis of arms flows to determine potential alignments. Combining theory
and analysis helped me verify my hypothesis, that India currently finds itself in a defensive neorealist
position, and it might either choose to change its historical non-alignment strategy and ally with the West,
or pursue the same but difficult-to-navigate strategy in order to maximize benefits from all sides. Lastly,
this project went a step further than fundamental neorealist theory to also account for the role of
domestic politics in shaping international power dynamics, and both the theoretical and analytical
frameworks constructed for this project are robust for other similar analyses as well.

Signature Work Presentation Video