Enhancing Nepal's Foreign Policy Effectiveness in the Emerging Geopolitical Context -

Lal babu Yadav
Associate Professor
Central Department of Political Science
Tribhuban University
and
Constituent Assembly member, Nepal

The Context:
Foreign policy as a means of statecraft has become one of the most important mechanisms to defend national interests in this globalised world.

In doing so, foreign policy needs to be attuned in such a way that it should be able to strike a right balance between international community – community of the sovereign states and international agencies which are emerging day-by-day.

The interdependence among nation-states have become obvious in this age of globalization and this has certainly transformed international relations into global one.

Today, issues like migration, technology, commerce, communication, climate change, among others, have become common for all and humanity had to collectively address them.

The spread of epidemics and terrorism is also equally challenging.

All these factors have forced nation-states to pool their sovereignties to create international regimes on shared interests to cope with these problems.

One can certainly observe that international community has grown up in various forms, sizes and its scope of action has expanded beyond expectations.

There are many factors being in this growth but the most pertinent one is the development that took place in the information technology which has brought new methods of communication as well as sources of economies shifting from real to virtual.

All these factors, for sure, has forced nation-states to look into the various polices and one of the most pertinent policy that is directly affected by these elements is “the foreign policy”.

The overarching aim of foreign policy is to protect national interests which include protecting geography, defending the interests of the people and creating opportunity for them.

This is also called national integrity, sovereignty, and independence or nation building/state building process for that reason.

Developing common consensus among political parties and other stakeholders is important to address these problems.

Failing to do so may cause internal stability as well as external erosion of sovereignty of the state.

Therefore, strengthening state institutions should be taken seriously to undertake multi-tasking jobs.

New Realities:

First, interdependence is not based on equilibrium of power.

As a result, it has created vulnerability to those small, non-competitive and least developed countries that are caught at the decision taking end. It has generated certain new types of problems to the nation-state which they may not have thought of or not developed mechanism to deal with.

Secondly, many political changes that have taken place over the last couple of decades have also created some awkward situation for many countries when it comes to the point of dealing with governance (internal and external).

Nepal cannot remain exception from this phenomenon.

All these factors have pressed nation-states, big or small in sizes, to rethink their classic methods of conducting foreign policy by foreign ministry only.

It required new adaptation strategies on survival, vital major and short-term peripheral national interests.

With the increasing number of people travelling from one part of the world to another for various purposes has further complicated the situation.

Nepalese Diaspora and migrant abroad can also act as leverage in Nepal’s foreign policy strategy.

Within this context, how agencies of the state should coordinate national foreign policy instruments?

Unlike in the past, today there are many agencies of the state-public and private- and also private individuals communicating directly with their counterparts outside.

They bring in foreign aid, investment, technology, ideas and culture.

What is most important for the state, from the perspective of foreign policy – is how to bring all these factors in the common platform so that they could be mobilized for the broader national interests without harming their organizational and individual objectives as well.

This is particularly important for Nepal as there are more and more agencies/individuals from various parts of the world coming here.

This is not only one way process –many Nepalese are going abroad for work, businesses, investment and even for living purposes.

Nepali Diaspora has expanded significantly over the years. There are some challenges attached with this process of intermingling as well.

For example, NRN’s are demanding for double citizenship – how can Nepal balance such a state of affairs?

Growing Complexity of Diplomacy:

Increased interaction at the individual, group and organizational levels outside the formal structure of the state is on the rise.

If we analyze events of the past few years one can come to the conclusion that social as well as political base of Nepal’s foreign policy is weakening.

There are many factors attributable for this: first, primacy of partisan over national interests, second, prolonged political instability in the country, third, weak institutional base of conducting foreign affairs, fourth, lack of skilled personnel and resource crunch and fifth, absence of a robust think-tank to provide clear orientation on foreign policy of Nepal.

In the context of geostrategic shift to Asia especially with the rise of China and India as global economic and technological powerhouse and increased cooperation between the two on many fronts such as infrastructural development, communication, investments, banking, trade, cultural exchange, diplomatic exchange and common approach on environment, Nepal needs to search a new adjustment.

This has never happened before in its history.

When we talk about social base – one could cite examples that how countries Foreign Service has been used to maneuver situation for personal benefits.

For example, while one top former diplomat has become refugee in a country where he served as an ambassador earlier, another top diplomat has chosen to join the UN service before completing the concurrent assignment.

In addition, unlike in the past, career diplomats today are blamed for merely running after the plum postings and securing Green Cards for their families in the West.

Situation with politically appointed diplomats is no better for two obvious reasons: first many of them do not understand or told not to understand what diplomacy is all about; second, many of them spend their times serving political parties, at the outset, who appointed him/her to the post.

It has undercut the possibility for expediting citizen diplomacy, a diplomacy that garners benefits from abroad for native citizens.
Part of the problem for such a state of affairs has arisen the rulers (basically the political parties) are taken away with ‘ideology’ but not with national interests as such.

Rise of such non-stake holding classes both in bureaucracy and politics has embroiled country’s foreign policy in troubles many times. In addition to the above mentioned problems there, some additional lacunas have emerged in the Nepal’s foreign policy domain.

For example, as we said earlier, it is equally important factor and that has emerged as problem in the context of Nepal, that many agencies and individual, rather than following up the proper diplomatic channel – they prefer to contact directly with the concerned authorities without bringing in notice to the government’s agency that looks after the portfolio of foreign affairs.

It is important in the context of Nepal.

Shouldn’t there by a steering and coordinating unit at the ministry of Foreign Affairs to streamline foreign policy coherence?

There is another issue – how should Nepali high-ranking authorities (both serving and retired) deal with their foreign counterparts abroad.

It has been noticed that many of them prefer to personalize these meetings and visits which later creates problem with the concerned states and there are many such example of this in the past.

“The classic example to this end is the fresh visit of Nepali leaders to the House of the Indian Ambassador where everybody went to see him (without taking proper permission from the concerned government authorities) and also taking into consideration their own position and protocol.

How a leader should behave abroad asserting his national interest and the dignity of position is well articulated in Jung Bahadur’s Journey to Britain.

Retired and senior Nepalese diplomats of all regimes should also prepare memoire, reminisces and recollections so that young can learn from their experience. Institutional memory is very important in dealing with counterparts in the future.

Every successive political change in Nepal has brought further challenges in the foreign policy domain.

Media report that some Nepalese diplomats used foreign connections to rise in important posts while opposition has also used foreigners to weaken the state.

With the rising number of political parties and interests groups and their connection with many like minded international agencies has created obstacles to create consensus in foreign policy of the state.

For example, many regional parties are created with the help of outsiders- how you create consensus in terms of foreign policy when such parties are there in the place and nothing about collective national interests ?

This will create major geopolitical challenges for Nepal in the days ahead.

The politicization of whole diplomatic service is another problem. Such a state of affairs has created space for external influence in the nation’s domestic politics.

And when there is too much of outside influence a country cannot maintain its sovereignty and democracy.

Foreign policy involves formulation and implementation of certain principles which shape the pattern of a state while negotiating with other states to protect or further its vital interests for that reason.

The principal element of a country’s foreign policy is the national interest based on geography, economy, political and cultural tradition, military, security dynamics and historical imperatives and national values.

However, the main thrust of any foreign policy is to maintain the “geographical integrity” of the national and operatinalise its institutions accordingly.

At the same, it is important to balance the relationship with other countries and keep them in a condition where countries can get best out of it.

Keeping national borders intact helps prevent the erosion of sovereignty in national determination of politics, law, and development is the most important role that any country’s foreign policy should play.

Hence states, whether big or small, have similar if not identical but limited menu of choices unless they are fascinated by ambitious agenda of building ‘imperialism’ or any other ‘ism.’

If we look at the history, most of our past rulers – Ranas and Shah, despite having some problem in conducting domestic affairs of the state always tried to maintain the foreign policy nuances intact.

But with the advent of multiparty democracy in Nepal, state could not strike a right balance foreign policy for obvious reasons.

This has resulted in the biggest foreign policy fissures with many issues remaining either unsettled or unattended at all causing the geopolitical concerns of neighbors.

This is precisely the reason India in Tarai and China in the northern 16 districts sought to create cordon sanitare of buffer regions.

Such a step limits Nepal’s sovereignty to hill only. In this context, it is important to assure the neighbors that Nepal can act as a link country without undermining the legitimate interests of either sides.

Political parties of then never had national consensus on key foreign policy issues.

The most strenuous issue, among others, that needs to be brought into broader discussion is that how our political leaders should be brought into the platform so that our position is presented uniformly whether it is sharing of water resources, flood controls addressing Bhutanese refugee problems, controlling cross-border crimes, border encroachments, smuggling of goods etc.

Maintaining harmonious relations with immediate neighbors and taking international community into confidence can easily increase the confidence and provide it leverage to play conference diplomacy in international fora.

There are some fresh challenges that have emerged in this area. With Nepalese working in almost all the States around the world in general and their central focus on key Western, Gulf and South East Asian countries, there is a need to concretize migrant labor policy so the cost of migration can be minimized, remittance can easily expedited and their rights are well protected.

Power Balance:

# Strike a right balance between two emerging powers – India and China – who are vying to develop their own sphere of influence South Asia.

# The western powers, including the European Union and the US,),too, have their own sets of interests in South Asia and Nepal cannot remain untouched from such moves.

# The Non-State-Agencies, too, have become more powerful primarily due to the free-floating capital.

The money power has enabled them to exert on the internal politics of the nation-states and South Asia in general and Nepal in particular need to have right policy to strike a balance here for the reason that institutions of the state are weak.

# The rise of non-stake holding class is increasing in South Asia. This class is working on both sides, failure to strike balance here may have consequences for the foreign policy as well [example here DV, NRN etc].

# Many countries are promoting their own soft power in Nepal, through cultural industries, media proliferation of art sites etc, we have to be careful of the fact that our soft power does not get subjugated in the process.

Expanding the Economic Base:

While most of the South Asian states are benefiting from the rise of India and China, Nepal certainly has potential to grapple opportunity from here as well.

So our foreign policy should be designed in a way that it makes every effort to get the economic benefits for the nation while resolving their security dilemma.

Expanding the Tourism:

Nepal has great deal of potential for tourism and we haven’t really worked much here as well. Our effort has to be to develop this sector as well.

Very few of our embassies are promoting Nepal abroad. The focus has completely lost here. This needs to be reinvigorated.

Harnessing the Natural Resource:

Nepal is rich in natural resources including hydropower but it has not explored it to its full capacity. Our effort should be to do that. Conducive environment for the capital investment is important.

Having said this, however, there are many challenges that Nepal have had to face when it comes to the foreign policy. Every successive political change in Nepal has brought further challenges in the foreign policy domain.

This will create major foreign policy challenges for Nepal in the days ahead.

The politicization of whole diplomatic service is another problem. Such a state of affairs has created space for external influence in our domestic politics.

And when there is too much of outside influence a country cannot maintain its sovereignty and democracy just becomes farce.

Conclusion:
Globalized context of foreign policy requires first an understanding on the changing dynamics of global politics, formulating strategies and conceptualizing the responses at societal, national, regional and global levels.

All these factors have to be taken into consideration while formulating foreign policy because failure to take all these process into consideration would have negative fall-out on Nepali state and citizens.

Therefore, state as an institutional force should upkeep its raison-d’etre and formulates policies so that, in the long term, it is able to upkeep its sovereignty and national integrity –which perhaps should be seen as main foreign policy objectives of any state irrespective of their size.

That said, however, it is peculiar in Nepal’s case due to its strategic location and geopolitical roundabout that are taking place in this part of the world.

Other important factor is how we should present ourselves in multilateral and bilateral agencies?

For that to succeed there is a need to generate national consensus among our political parties.

It helps to avoid geopolitical polarization and steer safely in world politics even at adverse times where international system is regarded disorderly and fluid.

It is within the context that this proposal tries to address some of the most pressing foreign policy issues that Nepal is going through.

These are importance for peace, stability, and development of Nepal.

End text.
# Thanks the distinguished senior ‘Political scientist of Nepal Lalbabu Yadav”: Ed. Upadhyaya N. P
# Our contact email address is: editor.telegraphnepal@gmail.com