Realism, Strategic Autonomy, and Multi-Alignment: Analyzing  India’s Engagement with QUAD and BRICS in a Multipolar World  Order

HIMANSHU PANDEY; DHARMENDRA YADAV

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.63289

Realism, Strategic Autonomy, and Multi-Alignment: Analyzing India’s Engagement with QUAD and BRICS in a Multipolar World Order

Author(s)	HIMANSHU PANDEY, DHARMENDRA YADAV
Country	India
Abstract	India’s foreign policy in the 21st century reflects a nuanced balance between strategic imperatives and institutional engagement in a rapidly evolving multipolar world. This study examines India’s simultaneous participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and BRICS, analyzing how the principles of realism, strategic autonomy, and multi-alignment guide its foreign policy decisions. While QUAD serves as a security-oriented platform to counterbalance regional threats and enhance maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, BRICS provides a complementary economic and institutional forum that advances India’s developmental goals and global governance influence. Despite significant scholarship on India’s foreign policy, most studies treat QUAD and BRICS separately, leaving a gap in understanding the integrated strategic rationale behind India’s dual engagement. This research addresses this lacuna by exploring how India simultaneously navigates security, economic, and diplomatic objectives without compromising its strategic autonomy. Using a qualitative analysis of scholarly works, official reports, and recent events-including Malabar Exercise 2025 and the 2025 BRICS summit outcomes- the study demonstrates India’s pragmatic application of multi-alignment, balancing cooperation and competition across diverse international platforms. The findings reveal that India’s dual engagement strengthens its regional and global positioning by enabling flexibility, hedging against systemic risks, and consolidating influence in both security and economic spheres. The study contributes to contemporary international relations scholarship by integrating theoretical insights with empirical developments, offering a framework to understand how middle powers like India operationalize strategic autonomy in a multipolar system.
Keywords	India, QUAD, BRICS, Strategic Autonomy, Multi-Alignment, Realism, Multipolar World, Indo-Pacific, International Relations
Field	Sociology > Politics
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 6, November-December 2025
Published On	2025-12-12
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.63289

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Realism, Strategic Autonomy, and Multi-Alignment: Analyzing India’s Engagement with QUAD and BRICS in a Multipolar World Order

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