We are currently living in the age of an industrial revolution where the world economy is undergoing rampant technological and digital changes. Needless to say, advances in technologies have massively impacted our lives collectively. While nations are increasingly resorting to Digitisation of their respective economies, it is also important to look at how it will impact diplomatic relations.
With the emergence of modern technologies, greater scrutiny is necessary because AI will have a significant impact on international relations, such as putting new topics on the international agenda, challenging geostrategic relations, serving as a tool for diplomats and negotiators, and creating new opportunities and concerns about protecting human rights.
Given that India is an emerging economy, we have immense potential to revolutionize our economy with the help of other countries. India can potentially collaborate with its neighbors and countries from the West to leverage its digital economy.
To help us demystify the connection between International Relations and Digitisation, we spoke with a special guest and one of the best minds in the field of economic diplomacy, former Ambassador Ravi Thapar who is now a professor of Practice in International Affairs and Law as well as the Executive Dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs. Prof. Thapar touched upon several aspects of Digitisation with regards to economic diplomacy and the way forward for India.
Economic Diplomacy in the 21st century
It cannot be said that Economic Diplomacy is a new field of study and practice. The earliest signs of economic diplomacy can evidently be seen when various kingdoms opened trade and commercial activities with one another.
While diplomacy essentially served political purposes before, economic benefits have now become the driving force of all diplomatic relations. The world is becoming increasingly competitive and advanced in terms of technology, infrastructure, and global governance. It is the practice of economic diplomacy that has enabled countries to indulge in the exchange of resources and services in a mutually beneficial and cooperative manner. With the wave of globalisation and the evolution of multilateralism, economic diplomacy forms the heart of all political and diplomatic relations in the global scenario.
If one were to define this concept today, economic diplomacy is specific to that area or discipline or expertise which is used as a tool and a mechanism by all countries across the globe to further develop and upgrade their economic development and prosperity in the country. And because we are an interconnected world, and because we are all interdependent, our economies are now all connected.
The principal players in economic diplomacy do remain the states and governments. But because of the seamless connectivity which has happened, non-state actors like the industry associations, entrepreneurs, NGOs, civil society, businesspeople, commentators, and lawyers, are now stakeholders and can influence the outcomes of economic diplomacy.
Indian Diplomacy in the age of digitisation
Prof. Thapar stated that India has this wonderful duality in its entity. We are a very developed nation in many ways. We have immense scientific and technological awareness and expertise and we are a world power in that kind of competence. In India, ISRO’s achievements and the missile technology which we have are second to none.
On the other hand, we do have an immense population of around 200 million who are still not very sure about their future, livelihood and their family and children. They do not have enough means to educate their children. So, these are particularly important concerns which our country must investigate.
When we bring in or connect with industrial revolution 4.0, which is about the Internet of Things and automation, it will bring more efficiency and will bring us on par with global manufacturing processes. India will have more precision and naturally, India, as an industry, will start looking up. In the 21st century, economic diplomacy has become a remarkably effective tool to achieve various national objectives. For instance, India is now on a mission to become a self-reliant nation under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Digital India, Make in India, Smart City and Skills India are some of the initiatives being undertaken as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission.
Even in the quest to become self-reliant, our country needs technical as well as financial assistance from other advanced countries. For successful execution, such projects have an external element in the form of a foreign partner, FDI, or technology transfer.
Partnerships in the digital arena
When we look at each country at the global level, we have countries which are specialists in a certain field. For example, we look at China in terms of its labor and how it has been rising. And then if you are looking at the US, they have semiconductors, and aircrafts and India also has many strengths in that regard. As mentioned, India has a dualistic kind of entity where it has the rich and the poor and we must remain in the top club of nations and continue to be for the wonderful achievements that benefit all. It can be done through Digitisation or supercomputing but there is this certain conservatism or a kind of reticence on taking risks and part of it is also because we need the political protection and the assurance that we are trying to be innovative and experimental.
So, if we were to pick up some very key specific areas and in all those areas, we kind of do simulated approvals through the Digitisation process, this would lead to efficient and effective management of approvals. To do this, we need to be on a very competent, secure network, where the ambassadors of our country, for example, can be connected on a secure digital network with the Chief Secretary of States. By digitizing the approval process and speeding it up, India can catch up with competing countries. Moreover, foreign investment is a massive bottleneck that is holding us back and an increasingly digital and transparent space could potentially help us overcome this.
Another key area that calls for a beneficial partnership is that of industrial design. We are now in the era of electrical cars, and as a developing economy, India must keep up with these new sustainable technologies. Keeping up with the rest of the world is what calls for beneficial partnerships, right from invasive surgery to AgriTech, India could potentially collaborate with other advanced countries in all these areas and gain economically from them.
It is projected that we will become a $5 trillion dollar economy in a few years. But India has a lot of catching up to do and technology can really help us keep a futuristic bent of mind. A scientific temper, as they say, can help and participation of the private sector can keep all the people from different segments of the population and the states of India together.
Addressing the negative aspects of Digitisation via diplomacy
This arena is something where a broad-based dialogue is necessary but unfortunately capitalizing through negative means is a part of human nature. To achieve certain goals, we as humans, tend to lose track and we lose sight of the broader significance an idea holds for our entire race. Moreover, there has been unfortunately too much consideration being given to the commercial aspects of Digitisation, but we can look at the example of the European community. They insist that the data relating to their population, their society, and their communities should be on servers which are resident and based in their countries so that they have greater control and access over it.
Another in-house solution to tackle the negative impacts is that we upgrade our technology. A country must buy the best technology, anti-piracy, anti-hacking systems and this will need a few million dollars but this will enable a country to collaborate with some top-notch security computer security companies of the world.
There is a plethora of negative aspects to Digitisation- right from data extraction, photo-mining to spreading fake news and radicalizing the citizens of a nation and as a former diplomat in the Indian Foreign Services, Prof. Thapar believes that there should always be the larger consciousness that what we possess now is all temporary and that we must not forget our spiritual lineages. We must teach our organizations to think of the greater good and work for the benefit of the global citizen.
The European Digital Single Market: an economic opportunity for India
As a growing economy, India must indulge with this prospect of a digital market and not lose out on important trade opportunities. India is into supercomputing and custom designing and its engineers could use this platform to leverage the ingenious digital market systems to collaborate with the European Union. The culture of digital markets will have to gradually pick some pace, it is needless to say that the big industrial houses will take care of that in the coming years.
But an important aspect here is to not lose sight of the small and medium enterprises that essentially drive India’s economic growth. There should not be any divide; not just the digital divide, there should not be any scope for an economic and financial divide, not only within the citizens of our country but also between nations across the globe.
Bridging these gaps among nations through diplomacy will certainly help countries like India avail the benefits of digital initiatives across the globe and in turn, help us build indigenous platforms for the same. Thus, the Digital Single Market is a wonderful opportunity for India to learn and adapt to the current digital scenario.
The readers must note that the views expressed in this interview are the personal opinions of Professor Ravi Thapar (Former Ambassador), and must not be regarded as views of Arthaniti or as absolute facts.This is written by Arthaniti's Editorial team members - Aakrith Harikumar (JSIA) & Ruchi Yemul (JSIA)
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