Exploring India's Soft Power Assets: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Revisited

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) has nurtured deliberations on the concept of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' and its strategic relevance for the world today since 2019. The concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam was the culmination point in a culture—a culture that discovered the truth of the oneness of Existence, nurtured it and took it to its logical conclusion in the concept and practice of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In this volume, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and similar ideational resources are being highlighted as India's soft power assets. Soft power is the ability of a country to influence other countries and obtain preferred outcomes by attraction and persuasion rather than by coercion or payment. The objective of the volume is to identify such resources and to discuss how to leverage them for a successful soft power exercise on the part of India. It contains chapters by eminent experts on a variety of matters ranging from India's philosophical heritage, Indian influence on art and architecture of Asia, Indian perspective on the nature and purpose of scientific knowledge, and Indian grammatical system to India’s heritage of religious pluralism, Swami Vivekananda's concept of universal religion, ethics as found in the Kural, and Dharma and business. The book will be of interest to diplomats, policymakers, scholars and students of history, international politics, Indian knowledge systems, foreign policy and diplomacy.

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