ABSTRACT

India’s pursuit of a position within the structure of Southeast Asian States has seen its most extensive ‘soft power’ campaign in all probability. One of the most effective forms of these soft power campaigns is its cultural diplomacy invoked through a shared cultural heritage with the Southeast Asian States. This cultural diplomacy takes the form of a multitude of instruments. However, the instrument of temple restoration as a form of cultural diplomacy is rarely analyzed irrespective of its steady presence in the last decades. This article is an attempt to fill in the gaps between the understanding of soft power and cultural diplomacy through temple restorations. The authors in this article examine India’s restoration of temples across the Southeast Asian States as a form of its cultural diplomacy and analyzes the effectiveness of the same as an instrument of soft power. In the first section, the authors examine the concept of ‘soft power’ and India’s efforts in the exercise of the same through the restoration of temples. In the second section, the author analyzes India’s exercise and development of ‘soft power’ with specific reference to how Buddhism enables India to develop its relations with Southeast Asian States. In the third section, the author examines whether India’s cultural diplomacy through its restoration of temples has actually had a positive impact in developing India’s relations with other Southeast Asian States. Finally, the authors analyze whether there is any merit to a continuation of such measures of its cultural diplomacy as an instrument of its soft power.

摘要

印度对在东南亚国家结构中的地位的追求很可能是其最广泛的“软实力”运动。这些软实力运动最有效的形式之一是通过与东南亚国家共享文化遗产而进行的文化外交。这种文化外交采取多种手段的形式。然而，作为一种文化外交形式的寺庙修复工具很少被分析，尽管它在过去几十年中一直存在。本文试图通过修复寺庙来填补对软实力和文化外交的理解之间的空白。本文的作者将印度在东南亚国家修复寺庙作为其文化外交的一种形式进行了考察，并分析了其作为软实力工具的有效性。在第一部分，作者审视了“软实力”的概念以及印度通过修复寺庙来行使软实力的努力。在第二节中，作者具体分析了印度“软实力”的行使和发展，具体参照佛教如何使印度发展与东南亚国家的关系。在第三部分，作者考察了印度通过修复寺庙开展的文化外交是否对发展印度与其他东南亚国家的关系产生了积极影响。最后，