Indo-Pacific Minilateral Convergence and Indian Strategic Autonomy

India’s current strategic predicament can be summed up in a single, uneasy question: can New Delhi harvest the gains of two overlapping minilateral formations; the Quad and AUKUS—without eating away at the very strategic autonomy that has animated its foreign-policy practice since independence? This question goes beyond technical interoperability drills or export-control clauses; it strikes at the heart of India’s self-conception as a swing civilizational power that refuses both formal alliance entanglements and parochial isolation.