India's Neighbourhood First Policy it’s Challenges and Opportunities
Keywords:
Neighbourhood First Policy, South Asia, India Foreign Policy, Regional Diplomacy, China-India Competition, SAARCAbstract
The Neighbourhood First Policy (NFP) of India, introduced in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an attempt to recalibrate the foreign policy priorities of New Delhi. This policy highlights India in ensuring that there are closer economic, cultural and diplomatic relations with its immediate neighbours, namely, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar and Afghanistan. This paper is a critical analysis of the origin, application, obstacles and opportunities of the Neighbourhood First Policy, the bilateral relations with every neighbouring nation and the evaluation of how India is changing to be a regional hegemon in South Asia. The paper concludes that despite the great opportunities that India has to become the regional leader, the region faces a number of challenges that remain unresolved such as territorial issues, instability in domestic politics of the neighbouring countries and the influence of China in the region; all these issues hinder the full achievement of the policy goals.
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