Overview of the Indian political system
India is a federal republic,** a symbolic head of state, with real power in the hands of the prime minister. ** and Deputy ** are elected indirectly by an ad hoc electoral body for a five-year term. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, i.e. the Cabinet of India. The majority party in parliament nominates the prime minister, who appoints the prime minister. The Prime Minister then nominates the Deputy Prime Minister and other cabinet members to **.
Indian citizens are equal before the law without distinction as to race, sex, origin, religion or place of birth. ** Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, elected by an electoral college comprising the Federal Assembly and the State Assemblies for a five-year term. ** Exercising its powers on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister.
The parliament consists of the House of States (upper house) and the Lok Sabha (lower house). The Supreme Court is the highest organ of judicial power and has the power to interpret the Constitution, hear disputes between the Supreme Court and the states, etc. Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by **. The Attorney General is appointed by **, and his main responsibilities are to provide advice and recommendations to ** on law enforcement matters, complete the procuratorial power provided for by the Constitution and laws, and supervise the implementation of the Constitution and laws.
The Congress Party is the largest political party in India, with a reported membership of 30 million junior members and 1.5 million active members. After India's independence, the Congress Party was in power for a long time. With 3.5 million members, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims to be the second-largest political party in India. There are other political parties in India. For the time being, India does not have a party system that competes between two parties like the United States. National party competitions are often the victory of the Congress. Some political parties hold important positions in regional governments, such as the Communist Party of India, which has been in power for a long time in West Bengal. The United States is a two-party system, and these two parties compete with each other, both locally and at the highest level. India is the only country at the highest level, and due to the large regional differences in India, different political parties often occupy a dominant competitive position in different regions. The partisan situation in India is similar to that in Japan, which is a national pattern of dominance and competition.
India is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and has emphasized non-alignment as the foundation of its foreign policy and has strived to play an important role in regional and international affairs. After the end of the Cold War, India adjusted its long-standing policy of balancing the great powers in favor of the Soviet Union and pursued all-round pragmatic diplomacy.
India's diplomacy was very good, and India's basically neutral attitude led to India's right and left, and it had better relations with the two superpowers at that time, and India benefited greatly from this. India's diplomacy is actually a long-distance relationship and close attack, and the two largest countries adjacent to India are China and Pakistan, both of which have many contradictions with India.
India's tough diplomatic posture towards its neighbors has led to small countries around India being vulnerable to India's manipulation. Bhutan, a small country between China and India, is guided by India in the field of diplomacy, rather than guided by China or completely neutral, which really shows the level of India's diplomacy. India has also succeeded in splitting up Pakistan, a hostile neighbor (Bangladesh is a country that has left Pakistan**), which is one of the greatest achievements of Indian diplomacy, and China has seen its allies being torn apart, but there is nothing that can be done.
India's successful annexation of Sikkim, China's small neighbor, which is now recognized by China, is an example of the successful annexation of other countries after World War II, which is also a great achievement of Indian diplomacy. After independence, India achieved land expansion, such as occupying Chinese land south of the McMahon Line. The fact of India shows that India's diplomacy is indeed successful and worthy of envy.
After 1955, the Soviet Union began to provide huge economic and military aid to India (at this time, Chinese mainland also had good relations with the Soviet Union). In 1971, the two countries signed the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, establishing extremely close bilateral relations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, India vigorously engaged with Russia and other independent countries. In May 1998, after India's nuclear test, Russia opposed the imposition of economic sanctions against India, which showed that Russia's support for India was so high that it disregarded the basic principles of nuclear non-proliferation. The Russian side promised to raise the cooperation between the two countries to the highest level and will provide India with all the conditions requested by India, which is a model for India to be on the right and left, and shows Russia's heart for Sima Zhao. Russia, like India, has a diplomatic principle of distant relations and close attack. Russia has a bad relationship with its neighbors and occasionally has conflicts, but Russia knows how to make friends from afar and attack closely, and its relations with non-neighboring countries are often good, and its relations with India are a model representative of Russia's good relations with non-neighboring countries. Russia's intention could not be clearer, to make India strong, to promote the increase of forces to contain China, and to resist China's strong tendency.
In the 50s and 60s, there were close relations between India and the United States. In 1971, after India signed the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with the former Soviet Union and launched the Third Indo-Pakistani War to dismember Pakistan, India-US relations suffered serious setbacks. Relations were restored in the late 80s and have been further developed in recent years. Currently, the United States is India's largest partner (and the European Union as a whole, India's largest partner) and investor. This shows that India also has good relations with the United States, which, like Russia, has made India strong and increased its power to contain China. It's just that the United States is relatively more committed to certain principles, which leads to the fact that US-India relations are not as close as those between Russia and India.
One of the reasons why Indian-US relations are not as good as India-Russia relations are that the United States does not have the strategic thinking of long-distance relations and close attacks. The super-strength of the modern United States itself and the relative weakness of the surrounding countries have led to the fact that the United States has not produced a diplomatic strategy of distant friendship and close attack. China and India are almost as far away from the United States, and both China and India are remote countries of the United States, countries that are not neighbors, which makes the United States not need to think like Russia to make India strong and thus increase its power to contain China. In dealing with US-India or US-China relations, the United States has no geopolitical factors, and the United States is only inclined to India from a political point of view, which has the intention of containing China. The intensity of the desire of the United States to contain China from a political point of view may not be as strong as Russia's desire to contain China from a geographical point of view. In fact, from a geopolitical point of view, the United States can increase its power to contain China by supporting Japan or South Korea. Russia and India are also the main forces to contain China. China is now actually contained.
As the world's policeman, the United States needs to consider a comprehensive balance of power, not only a global balance of power, but also a regional balance of power. And the relative lack of power to contain India around India will affect US interests in the Indian Ocean. China and Pakistan are the forces to contain India, and the real container is mainly Pakistan. Other countries around the Indian Ocean will not have much power, and it will be difficult to contain India's power, and the Indian Ocean region has a tendency to have an imbalance of power, which is a problem that the United States needs to consider in the future, and the United States will gradually find it more and more difficult to tolerate India's gradual strength.
In 2000, India established a summit mechanism with the EU, becoming the second developing country after China to establish a similar mechanism with the EU. India's ambition is evident in its efforts to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, relying on its own population size, as well as its growing economic power.
The Indian army was formerly known as the British mercenary army, and after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the three separate armies were established. ** is the nominal commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the cabinet is the highest military decision-making body. The Ministry of Defence is responsible for the command, management and coordination of the forces. Implement a conscription system. The total strength of the army, navy and air force is 1.27 million, ranking fourth in the world (China, the United States, and Russia are the top three). of them Army 10350,000, 70,000 for the Navy and 170,000 for the Air Force. Relative to the population of India, this army is not large.
India has always regarded the expansion of its military strength as an important symbol of its striving to become a world-class power. India has always been committed to dominating South Asia, directly controlling the Indian Ocean, and becoming one of the world's military powers is the ultimate goal of India's national strategy. The Indian authorities are convinced that military strength is the necessary foundation for attaining the status of a great power, that diplomacy must be backed by the military, and that the military must be supplemented by diplomacy, and that military strength is not only an important factor constituting comprehensive national strength, but also the most reliable trump card in national diplomacy. More importantly, this kind of strategic thinking has been widely supported by Indian think tanks, military circles, academic circles, and media circles.
It purchased the aircraft carrier "Admiral Gorshkov" worth $1.5 billion from Russia, 66 "Eagle" advanced trainer aircraft worth $1.7 billion from Britain, and three "Fercon" airborne early warning aircraft worth $1.1 billion from Israel. The Indian Air Force plans to purchase 126 multi-role medium-range fighters, advanced drones and transports from the United States*** The Navy plans to purchase advanced submarines, maritime surveillance aircraft, an artificial satellite and three aircraft carriers. India is the largest purchaser among emerging economies. India's military strategic objectives are: Backed by strong military strength, it will directly control its weak and small neighbors, contain its northeastern neighbor (China), squeeze out the interference of other major powers in South Asian and Indian Ocean affairs, consolidate its vested interests in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and actively strive to become a world military power. This attitude is a typical regional hegemonic attitude, and China should take it seriously. Although India does not have much foreign exchange, India can buy foreign advanced **, which is India's advantage over Chinese mainland. As a big country, it is not a big deal if China does not buy **, and China should take the road of self-research and development. China should learn from the United States' R&D or manufacturing model, let private enterprises develop or manufacture, and gradually privatize military enterprises, which is very necessary. The private ownership of military enterprises can improve the level of manufacturing, improve the level of research, and promote the strength of China.
India has announced plans to build an aircraft carrier fleet and nuclear submarines over the next decade. Recently, India also conducted a test launch of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the range of which can cover major cities in China. And in the border area near China, it is also reopening its air base. In order to encourage India to counterbalance China, Russia has gradually strengthened close cooperation with the Indian military.
Although the Indian army can achieve a better level of equipment by relying on purchases, due to the low IQ of the Indian population, the actual combat effectiveness of the Indian army is often overestimated, in fact, the actual combat effectiveness of the Indian army is not as strong as we feel. Imagining the Indian military as having the same level of talent as ours inevitably leads to an overestimation of the combat effectiveness of the Indian army.