Balancing act, diverging interests: The shades of grey in India-US ties and a quandary for Quad

India’s security ties with the United States have traditionally commanded attention within the broader context of India’s foreign affairs. Although Indo-US security cooperation has matured over the last two decades in quantitative and qualitative terms, it takes a few dull moments for commentators to write the obituary of India-US relations.

The oscillation between the extremes of “strong ties” and “frosty relations” makes it difficult to grasp the real-world complexities or the underlying phenomenon at play. To truly understand the gradations in contemporary India-US security ties, it is pertinent to grasp the simultaneous interplay of two concepts of International Relations role theory: compatibility in security role conceptions and convergence-divergence dynamics.

India and US Role Compatibility

Role conceptions refer to the policymakers’ perception of their country’s position vis-à-vis others (self-conception) in the broader international system in conjunction with external countries’ expectations (role prescription) from the country in question. In short, it is the interplay between a state’s self-conception and external expectations.

Every state possesses a range of foreign policy and security role conceptions that shape its external policy conduct and choices. Based on one’s self-conceptions, states have expectations from other actors. When there is compatibility between an actor’s self-conception and the expectation of an external actor, it...

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