The world is still largely ‘Western’ in terms of intellectual concepts and traditions, the Foreign Minister said

Pune (ANI): Noting that the world today is still largely ‘Western’ in terms of its intellectual concepts, traditions and constructs, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Saturday called for devoting more energy to strengthening the Indian strategic culture. Insisted on doing. Indigenous knowledge and traditions to build international relationships with Indian characteristics.
Speaking on the theme ‘India’s Strategic Culture:’ at the International Relations Conference 2023, Jaishankar said, “Is it not necessary that we devote more time, attention and energy to really looking at our repository of culture, knowledge, history and traditions? Dedicate.” Addressing global and regional challenges at the Symbiosis Institute in Pune.

Addressing the event, Jaishankar said, “The world is still largely Western in terms of its intellectual concepts, traditions and creations. When we say Western, a large part of it is actually British, because, for the last 250 years, the Western powers, the British…were a massive empire”.
“They have really shaped great debates and conversations,” he said. Now, interestingly, if you look at it this way, ideas come to the fore in history, political science and international relations.”
Western powers have been globally influential and hegemonic, he said, adding that many people compare Westernism with modernism.

“Over the past 300 years, Western powers have been globally dominant. They have been hegemonic. For him, superior powers mean superior ideas; It means a kind of superior construction; It means best history. So, this intellectual dominance thing that came from that era still continues, even though there have been political and economic changes after World War II,” Jayashnakar said.
He further said, “The second reason is ourselves.

“If you look at the last century, especially in Asia, many Asians themselves… have associated modernization with Westernization.”
The External Affairs Minister further said that Westerners and the British had “taken history backwards” and created an entire legacy of knowledge, wisdom and philosophy.

“Westerners and the British have considered themselves the heirs of the Greeks and Romans. They have pushed history backwards… Once the empire building exercise started, and then you needed legitimacy, then you needed justification, you needed narrative. You need a rationalization. He created this whole legacy of knowledge, wisdom thought and philosophy,” he said. (ANI)