India’s rise as a middle power increasingly depends not only on diplomacy between states but on the ability of Indian firms to survive and compete across fractured global systems. From sanctions to regulatory coercion, the risks are growing faster than institutional support. Is India prepared to protect its businesses abroad?
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in his famous Davos address, referred to the concept of “middle powers” emerging to craft a new world order in the absence of an American backstop to global financial, economic, and geopolitical stability. The Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz throw open the question of whether Carney was serious about non-US and non-China players emerging as global police to guarantee freedom of navigation—a role the US has fulfilled until recently. US President Donald Trump would argue that the hesitation shown by other countries in helping open the Strait is evidence that Carney’s analysis was incorrect and over-ambitious.
