Neighborhood relations management

Pursuit of a foreign policy doesn’t always operate on reason but on some hardnosed realities. Power has always been, and will always be, the major instrument of foreign policy. In other words, relations between and among nations are always shaped and influenced by the instrument of power. The overarching foreign policy concerns of all the nations, big or small, have obviously been the protection and promotion of their vital national interests. These interests manifest in many forms and shapes. Economic and trade issues, issues of terrorism, climate change, rising internal conflicts with grave socio-political overtones have now become the principal factors for making and unmaking of relations between and among nations. It is against these harsh international relations management realities that we must also enquire into our neighborly relations management issues, as these relations, too, are the reflection of, and pretty much conditioned by, these very realities.

Strengths & Weaknesses

I think one of our greatest strengths is our constitutional commitment toward democracy, pluralism and peace, though we are yet to fully institutionalize them. We need to enshrine these universally-accepted democratic norms in our constitution and place them at the center of our future relations management exercises with our immediate neighbors and the international community. We must first know our external limitations and internal constraints. We must, as well, make a dispassionate assessment of these limitations in the context of our vital national interest protection needs, strategic locations, and the level of socio-economic development, political maturity and institutional and administrative capacity constraints. Nepal is lucky in the sense that it does not have any real enemies. Our two immediate neighbors have always wished us well and helped us in our national development endeavors. And the rest of the international community wish to see nothing but political stability, peace, democracy and prosperity flourish in Nepal. There is a saying “a perennially pauper neighbor is a constant source of tension”. We are lucky to be in the midst of the two economically-thriving colossal neighbors. This itself is a big opportunity for us. Our success lies in our ability to take advantage of the prosperity at our doorstep. There are challenges, too. We must not lose sight of the fact that our inability to fully comprehend and balance their vital national interest needs with those of our own may spell disaster for us.

With India, our relations are both intensive and extensive in scope and character. We have as many similarities to be happy about as there are differences, which should be handled with diplomatic tact and dexterity as we move ahead. We need to recognize our differences; our weaknesses and strengths and work a way out to forge pragmatic, meaningful and enduring Nepal-India relations.

We fail to forge unity and then shift the blame elsewhere, we fail to rise above personal agenda and then blame external interference to hide our failures. We fail to keep our house in order and point an accusing finger elsewhere.

Our relations with China are growing only stronger, with time. However, we must bear in mind that in the future we have to interact with China as our next economic and trade partner. Do we fully understand how a China with enormous economic and commercial clout is going to behave with us in that capacity? It is beyond doubt that as our relations expand into areas of trade, economics and business we are sure to witness enormous strains that these commercial interests will bring to bear upon our relations. Therefore, the major preoccupation of our long-term foreign policy vis-à-vis China and India must be informed by the exigencies of the emerging economic realities. Balancing our political relations with those of trade and economics in such a way that we are able to win the confidence of both the neighbors would obviously be the greatest foreign policy challenge for us. Only a foreign policy influenced by strong national unity, powered by informed knowledge and intellectual prowess, and above all nurtured by a deep feeling of patriotism will, perhaps, help us to navigate our way safely out of those challenges.

In the meantime, much to our chagrin, the chaos of politics and that of governance continue to bedevil us. The way major political parties are behaving shows that we do have leaders but not statesmen. Their greed for power and inability to reconcile their differences and their undiplomatic and provocative utterances against friendly countries on unfounded grounds has gradually begun to create suspicions in the neighborhood and beyond. We fail to forge unity and then shift the blame elsewhere, we fail to rise above personal agenda and then blame external interference to hide our failures. We fail to keep our house in order and point an accusing finger elsewhere. We have failed to institute rapid socio-economic transformation to keep pace with the sweeping political changes. In two decades time, Nepal has had two historic changes of monumental proportions, but the economic transformation did never materialize to meet with the rising popular expectations. There is no denying our choices, both internal and external, are extremely limited which require us to exercise prudence and pragmatism in the conduct of our neighborly relations. We must iron out internal differences and complete the peace and the constitution-making process without further delay to stay relevant and credible before our neighbors and beyond.

One wonders why then at a time when two of our immediate neighbors are enjoying political stability, peace and economic prosperity, ours is the only perilous journey. We have not managed to bring the peace and constitution-writing processes to fruition, to internalize democracy, peace and prosperity. The way major political parties are behaving shows that we do have leaders but not statesmen. Power seems to be their fundamental preoccupation and for that they appear prepared to sacrifice anything else. Their greed for power and inability to reconcile their differences; their undiplomatic and provocative utterances against friendly countries on unfounded grounds have gradually begun to create suspicions in the neighborhood and beyond. We fail to forge unity and then shift the blame elsewhere, we fail to rise above personal agenda and then blame external interference to hide our failure. We fail to keep our house in order and point an accusing finger to one of our neighbors. We have failed to institute rapid socio-economic transformation to keep pace with the sweeping political changes. There is a peace but in a very tenuous stage. The mistrust among major political parties has deepened further. There is a growing fear that the historic achievements of Janaandolan II stand the risk of being unraveled. In sum, our national threats are entirely internal and of our own making. The perceived and notional threats often whipped up as a veil to hide our weaknesses will no longer be tenable now. We must help ourselves before we expect others to help us.