ABSTRACT
Is India a great power? If not now, will it become one? Or, is it a regional power, a major power, a leading power, a world power, an emerging power, or a global power? 2 If not, will it achieve one or more of these statuses? As India’s rank in economic and military size and capability improves, these are natural questions. Marked improvements in relative capability unsurprisingly raise questions of whether an ascending state has achieved, is acquiring, or some day might attain elite status in world politics. International relations have always had a bias toward elite states. The metaphor comparing states to elephants and grass is apt in this respect. A few states are like elephants capable of dealing with other states as if they were grass to be trampled on when the elephants feel so predisposed. The metaphor is assuredly extreme but the traditional reflex to talk about great and small powers is well ingrained in our discourse. Some powerful states are more likely to get what they want while others are forced to accept their relative weakness and bow to the inevitable – at least some of the time. Of course, it does not always work out that way – mice can roar and scare the elephants away. Still, ascending states would rather be compared to elephants than mice, and who can blame them.
