The world today is witnessing a level of instability that goes beyond episodic crises. What we are seeing is a breakdown in the frameworks that have governed global conduct since the middle of the 20th century. More than 40 armed conflicts are underway across continents.
Russia continues to occupy large parts of Ukraine. Gaza has seen destruction on a scale that has unsettled the global conscience. Sudan is trapped in civil war. Myanmar continues to bleed after the military coup. The recent escalation involving Iran and retaliatory actions across the region have raised fears about the security of energy supply routes, including the Strait of Hormuz. Food security alerts are emerging across parts of Asia and Africa. These developments together signal not simply geopolitical tension but structural disorder in the international system.
Institutions created after World War II were intended to prevent precisely such a breakdown. Yet those institutions now struggle to respond. The United Nations Security Council remains divided. Major powers are directly involved in conflicts, support one side in ongoing wars, or prevent collective action. The problem, therefore, is not the absence of diplomatic capacity or the lack of treaties and institutions. The deeper issue is that the intellectual frameworks guiding international conduct are no longer adequate for the challenges before us.
A crisis of frameworks
The crisis that confronts the world is not merely geopolitical. It is civilisational. The dominant frameworks of power politics that shaped international relations in recent decades are failing to provide a pathway toward stability. In such moments, the search for alternative intellectual traditions becomes important.
India offers one such tradition. This contribution does not arise from India’s position as an emerging power, seeking greater influence in global institutions. Its significance lies in the civilisational ideas that have shaped Indian thought for several millennia and that continue to remain part of its intellectual heritage.
During India’s presidency of the G20 in 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened leaders under the invocation of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One Earth, One Family, One Future. The New Delhi Declaration articulated a set of commitments anchored in four principles—People, Planet, Prosperity, and Peace. These principles were presented in the language of contemporary policy, but their conceptual roots lie deep within India’s civilisational tradition.
The Dharmic tradition identifies four foundational aims of human life—Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. These principles are usually discussed in relation to individual conduct and spiritual evolution. Yet they also represent a framework for organising social and political life. When viewed through this lens, the four priorities articulated in the New Delhi declaration align with these classical ideas with striking clarity.
Dharma represents the principle that action must be governed by ethical restraint and responsibility. It establishes that power must operate within limits. The rules-based international order that emerged after World War II was an imperfect attempt to translate this idea into the language of international law. It assumed that even powerful nations would operate within a framework of norms and agreed rules.
That assumption is now under strain. Powerful states increasingly justify unilateral military action and territorial assertion. The result is the weakening of the very principles that once constrained conflict. When the normative foundation erodes, the system loses its capacity to regulate behaviour.
The erosion of Dharma leads inevitably to instability in Artha. Economic prosperity that is disconnected from justice cannot remain stable. The economic consequences of recent conflicts illustrate this clearly. Disruptions in energy supply, rising inflation, and threats to food security have begun to affect countries far removed from the battlefields themselves. When prosperity is pursued without ethical restraint, it begins to undermine its own foundations.
The third dimension involves Kama, understood as human desire. Desire in itself is not condemned within the Dharmic tradition. It becomes destructive only when it escapes the limits imposed by Dharma. Many contemporary conflicts are driven by unchecked aspirations for power, territory, or strategic advantage. When such desires operate without restraint, they generate cycles of confrontation that become increasingly difficult to contain.
The Bhagavad Gita presents a deep reflection on this dilemma through the character of Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Arjuna recognises that the pursuit of victory driven by attachment and ambition ultimately destroys both the victor and the defeated. The response offered in the Gita is not withdrawal from action. Instead, it calls for action rooted in Dharma rather than driven by desire.
The fourth aim, Moksha, represents liberation from cycles of suffering and conflict. In political terms, this corresponds to a form of peace that goes beyond temporary ceasefires. Many contemporary peace agreements merely pause hostilities without addressing the deeper causes of conflict. Such arrangements often lead to renewed confrontation after a brief period of stability. Peace that emerges from exhaustion rather than transformation rarely proves durable.
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Civilisational ideas to global leadership
India’s relevance in this moment lies in its ability to engage with multiple actors simultaneously while maintaining space for dialogue. India has maintained communication with Russia and Ukraine. It engages with Israel while also sustaining relations with Iran. It continues to call for dialogue even when many actors view confrontation as inevitable. When Prime Minister Modi stated in Samarkand that this is not an era of war, the remark reflected more than diplomatic caution. It echoed a deeper civilisational orientation.
India’s intellectual tradition also recognises that ethical reflection must coexist with pragmatic statecraft. The Arthashastra provides a detailed analysis of political power, diplomacy, and governance, while the Bhagavad Gita offers an ethical compass to guide the use of that power. The coexistence of these texts reflects an understanding that wisdom and power must operate together.
The challenge for India now is whether it will consciously articulate this intellectual contribution to global discourse. Such a contribution should not be framed merely as cultural influence or diplomatic positioning. It must emerge as a coherent approach to global leadership rooted in ethical reflection and practical engagement.
The principles articulated in the New Delhi declaration provide an initial framework for such engagement: prioritising people over narrow power interests, recognising planetary limits in economic decision-making, and pursuing prosperity that is widely shared. Working toward peace that reduces the likelihood of future conflict. These ideas resonate with the classical framework of the Purusharthas while addressing contemporary global challenges.
The world is entering a period in which technological capacity and military strength alone cannot ensure stability. The scarcity that now confronts the international system is not material. It is intellectual and moral. Frameworks that integrate ethical reflection with practical statecraft will become increasingly important.
India possesses such a framework within its civilisational tradition. The Purusharthas are not historical abstractions. They remain a living set of ideas that can inform contemporary policy and diplomacy. The New Delhi declaration provided a glimpse of how these ideas can be translated into the language of modern governance.
The task ahead is to move beyond articulation toward application. Global leadership in the coming decades will require the ability to mediate conflicts, sustain dialogue across divisions, and anchor policy in ethical reasoning. The intellectual resources for such leadership already exist within India’s civilisational heritage.
The world today resembles a battlefield in which competing ambitions threaten collective stability. In the Bhagavad Gita, the battlefield became the setting for a profound reflection on duty, restraint, and wisdom. That reflection remains relevant today. What the world requires now is not merely greater power but deeper wisdom. India has an opportunity to contribute both.
The author is a development practitioner and founder of GRAAM and SVYM. He is Member-HR at the Capacity Building Commission, Government of India. Views expressed are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)