Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, and the Early Indian Classical Period: The Obligations of Power

Rabindrinath Tagore (1861-1941) and Amartya Sen (1933-) defend a distinctive form of foreign policy internationalism in their writings. Instead of increasing the economic and military power of democratic states relative to their authoritarian competitors, Tagore and Sen focus on the need to diminish the capacity for violence in all states, regardless of regime type. In Sen’s view, a program of nuclear disarmament, a coordinated reduction in global military spending, and a coordinated reduction in the global arms trade should be woven into international law.

This book argues that the distance between Tagore and Sen’s foreign policy recommendations and the policies pursued by the leading states in the international system is better understood when it is viewed in terms of the early Indian classical period. In particular, the idea that violent actions lead to violent responses-and are therefore both immoral and imprudent-is prominently expressed in the early Buddhist Discourses and the Ashokan inscriptions as well as the writings of Tagore and Sen. The ethical standard of the obligations of power articulated by Tagore and Sen provides a better foundation for thinking about human security than the social contract tradition.