There is a school of thought in international relations that strips away the comforting language—the values, the norms, the rhetoric of solidarity—and looks at the world as it is. States pursue power. Interests are permanent. And the gap between what countries say and what they do is almost always explained by material calculation, not moral commitment. That school of thought is realism. And when you apply it to India, the picture that emerges is considerably less flattering

In international relations, we obsess over great powers. What Washington thinks, what Beijing wants, what New Delhi will do next. We map their strategies, track their rivalries, debate their ambitions. And somewhere along the way, we forget that most of the world doesn’t get to play that game. For smaller states, great power competition isn’t theory. It is the quiet, constant reality that you must navigate a world that is being shaped by others. So how do these countries navi