Perspectives and Challenges of Indian Soft Power in the Light of Democracy and Economic Development

Perspectives and Challenges of Indian Soft Power in the Light of Democracy and Economic Development Khosrow Dehghani1, Mohammad Ali Basirii2 , Enayat Allah Yazdani3 1. Ph.D. Student, International Relations, University of Isfahan,Iran, Email: khosrodehghani@yahoo.com 2. Associate Professor of International Relations at Isfahan University, Iran, Email: basiri@ase.ui.ac.ir 3. Associate Professor of International Relations at Isfahan University,Iran, Email: eyazdan@ase.ui.ac.ir The importance of soft power as an inevitable complement to hard power has been the focus of attention in recent decades in all countries, especially the great and emerging powers. India stands out among emerging powers with unique political values such as Mahatma Gandhi's spiritual heritage, a relatively dynamic civil society, the title of the world's largest democracy, rapid economic development and enormous cultural diversity. Despite India's access to these resources, China is currently the most serious alternative to the Western development model, despite lacking a democratic system. Reviewing the above propositions, the question arises that what bottlenecks and problems has India faced in maximizing the use of its soft power resources? In answer to this question, the paper hypothesizes that India realized soft power more late than its rivals, and that challenges such as poor governance, relative inefficiency of public services, poverty, corruption, and lack of Primary infrastructure has prevented the maximization of India's soft power. The method used in this article is descriptive-analytical and library, documentary and internet resources tools have been used to collect data.