Triangulation has three distinct technical lives. In surveying it locates a point using two known reference points. In social-science research it strengthens findings by cross-checking from multiple methods or sources. In foreign policy, borrowed from Kissinger-era US strategy, it describes a power maintaining productive ties with two rivals to enhance its own leverage.
For UPSC writing, the third sense is most useful: India’s multi-alignment posture is often analytically described as a triangulation between the US-led liberal order, the China-Russia revisionist bloc, and the Global South. The word adds analytical sophistication that ‘balancing’ alone cannot supply.
