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Book Review
Decision-making in foreign policy
PRESS AND FOREIGN POLICY IN INDIA: Partha Pratim Basu; Lancers Books, Post Box No. 4236, New Delhi-110048. Rs. 580.
WHAT ROLE does the Press play in the shaping of foreign policy? Does it influence decision-making? A quotation, carried in the introduction to the book under review and highlighting the intrinsic value of a newspaper came as a reassurance.
Attributed to the former editor of a London daily, it said, "Television puts the dead baby in your living room, newspapers tell you what to do with it." The quote helped in some ways to focus on the enduring role of the Press, and in turn its influence.
Partha Pritam Basu studies the role of the Press during three national crises over foreign relations and provides persuasive reasons to conclude that the Press has, in its own unobtrusive way, influenced foreign policy-making, performing a task for which it has probably not received adequate recognition.
The record of the Press in this specialised area has, of course, been mixed. This is so primarily because for several years foreign policy-making had remained the exclusive preserve of a few "netas" and their handpicked "babus" and the required expertise outside of government was lacking. During the time of Nehru when he was his own External Affairs Minister, foreign policy remained as mystifying and exotic as the man himself. Writing in the Journal of International Affairs in 1956, K. Balaraman noted in perhaps the first such assessment that the Press was markedly less critical in foreign affairs than in domestic and contributed little towards forming public opinion on foreign policy or influencing its conduct.
It was only under Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, and later under his grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, that foreign policy-making began to get deregulated and came increasingly under public scrutiny. One of the studies cited in the book avers that Ms Gandhi showed no great respect for the views of the Press, but its comments and views had begun to come increasingly into play during the formulation of policy.
The turning point perhaps came during the last years of Nehru's rule, during the confrontation with China. The awe that Nehru evoked disappeared overnight as the Himalayan confrontation erupted and foreign policy came to be debated and dissected. An implicit acceptance of the Nehru line on foreign policy had extracted its price.
The infallibility of the policy makers was no more taken for granted, the Press as the mouthpiece of the public waking up to its task. The author has undertaken a comparative study of the manner in which the Press had handled three major "crises in India's foreign relations", and how far the Press had helped shape each of the policy stances during the crises.
The first related to the Sino-Indian border conflict of 1962. It was fascinating to note one irony. Today, the mature way in which India and China are handling their differences over the boundary question, not allowing it to hold up progress in other fields, is hailed as a model for the India-Pakistan bilateral relationship. Four decades ago, two of the newspapers studied, including The Hindu, "generally agreed that a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the (Sino-Indian) dispute was most desirable and drew attention to the ongoing Indo-Pak parleys to underline the feasibility of such a solution" (page 108).
The Bangladesh crisis of 1971 and the Sri Lankan crisis of 1987-89 following the decision to send the Indian Peace Keeping Force to the island are the other two heads under which the role of the Press "as participant" (through editorials) has been studied in depth. A chapter each on the Press "as observer" (reporting news) and "as catalyst" (studying reader responses through the "Letters" column) complete the study.
It must be easy today to answer the question, "What role does the Press play in shaping the country's foreign policy" with an emphatic affirmation that it does play a major role. The most recent example of this is the way overwhelming public opinion, as reflected in the Press, forced the Vajpayee government to abandon tentative plans to send troops to occupied Iraq.
And yet, even today, it must be difficult to establish its actual influence, as Basu says of the Press' role during the three crises he has studied. He puts the Press on probation with his candour, "Our inquiry into the `"participant" role of the Indian Press yielded the conclusion that the Press did not shy away from questioning the Government's policies. However, its weakness lay in its inability to suggest coherent, imaginative and workable policy alternatives."
K. V. KRISHNASWAMY
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