India-China Relations From Social Constructivist Perspective

Aditya Satpute

Affiliations:

Assistant Professor of Political Science, MNLU Nagpur and PhD Scholar, RTMNU, Nagpur, Maharashtra, INDIA

India and China rivalry in recent years attributed to structural reasons like border dispute, overlapping of sphere of influence in south Asia, India’s alliance with western countries etc. However, these structural reasons or realism is inadequate, as they can’t explain a shift from cooperation to confrontation and vice versa in last 75 years. Realism fails to incorporate values, norms, discourse in analysis. This paper argues that India China relations can be explained from Social Constructivist perspective. Self-identities, identification of others, construction of anarchy, norms, value preference their strategic culture and discursive power shapes their relationship. India and China’s civilisational values, their colonial history and experiences create their world view. India’s identity as a Vishwa guru or moral leader, and Chinese identity as a middle kingdom shape its conception of China led Asian order. This paper concludes that mutual attempt to reshape the discourse, trust building activities can help rebuilding their relationship.

Keywords:
Social Constructivism, Structural realism, Discourse, Identities

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