India and the International Solar Alliance: Looking beyond Energy into Security

By : Eerishika Pankaj

Page No: 57-68

Abstract :
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a political vision that India and France share to ensure distribution and usage of clean energy. The criticality behind this notion is that it has the potential to shape a much broader strategic ambit in India’s evolving post-pandemic foreign policy as a venture beyond its environmental and climate driven exterior. This paper argues that India’s focus on the ISA in the post-COVID 19 order must be swift and expansive, covering security, economic and strategic overtures of the energy ‘alliance’. The paperanalyzes the Quadrilateral 2.0, India’s bilateral synergy with partner nations, Quad ‘Plus’, Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), Indo-Pacific security, China and other key strategic ambits vis-a-vis the ISA in support of such a geopolitical lens for viewing the ISA.

Author :
*Eerishika Pankaj is an Editorial Assistant to the Series Editor for the Routledge Series on Think Asia. She is also a Young Leader in the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program (YLP). Her research interests lie in Chinese foreign and domestic policies, Asian security studies, pathologies of international organizations and human security studies in conflict zones.