Civilisation-Washing
The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, vol. 20, pp. 636–663
Abstract
Abstract This article analyses Indian diplomacy at the 2023 G20 Summit, which India hosted. It uses a Critical Caste Studies approach to foreground the role of caste in Indian diplomacy, focussing on four prominent discursive tropes at the Summit – the naming of India as Bharat, the promotion of a ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Praya’ associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s philosophy of Integral Humanism, the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbatakam (the world is a family/the world is home) and the portrayal of India as the Mother of Democracy. By analysing these tropes, we argue that Indian diplomacy at the G20 Summit constituted civilisation-washing: the external projection of an apolitical and antipolitical civilisational transcendence to obfuscate and naturalise an upper-caste Hindu supremacism. We suggest that civilisation-washing serves a tool of illiberal authoritarianism, justifying the undermining of accountability and individual rights in the name of cultural authenticity and moral superiority.
Authors 2
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Affiliation as printed
University of Adelaide International Politics Adelaide Australia
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Vineet Thakur Aachen
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University History and International Studies at the Institute for History https://dx.doi.org/4496 Leiden The Netherlands
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