Perception of India’s Foreign Policy with Special Focus on China and Russia, and its Impact on Daily Life: A Geopsychological Perspective

Due to increasing globalization and exposure to information via the internet, global events are having a greater impact on people’s everyday lives. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war tend to further magnify such effects on ordinary people’s lives. The purpose of this article was to understand the perception of youth about India’s foreign policy, with special focus on China and Russia, as well as the impact of such events on the daily lives of ordinary citizens. The paper attempts to link Geopolitics with Psychology, which is now an emerging field known as  , with an aim to highlight how global events have varied impacts on peoples’ mental states. It also explores the level of awareness about Geopolitical issues among youth. The findings indicated that youth tend to have a negative opinion about China attributed to COVID-19 and Indo-China border conflicts (chi-square coefficient=13.99). Participants had a mixed perception of Russia, with fewer of them being aware of Russia-related events compared to China. Another significant finding was that majority of the participants felt their mental health was impacted due to incidents like the war or pandemic lockdowns. Further, implications of the study have been discussed.