BACKGROUNDER

The Petya Cyber-Attack

Most attacks prior to Petya were carried out by criminals for financial gain, but some characteristics of the Petya malware have led to doubts as to whether the culprits are state actors.

July 13, 2017

Outer Space Treaty: 50 years later

There is a need to rework the Outer Space Treaty and contemporize it to deal more directly with issues of the current era.

January 27, 2017

China’s First Cyber Security Law

China has justified the passage of the new law as an ‘objective need’ for national security considering its large cyber infrastructure and its vulnerabilities.

December 23, 2016

ICANN57: A Backgrounder

This backgrounder examines the current structure of ICANN, the intricacies of the IANA transition, and the way it will impact the architecture of cyberspace in the future.

November 04, 2016

Political Transition, Tatmadaw and Challenges for Myanmar’s Democracy

This backgrounder offers an overview of the two most challenging concerns for Myanmar’s democracy – ethnic unrest and economic hardships – and how the new government is planning to address these issues in particular and also more generally the influence of the Tatmadaw in politics.

July 26, 2016

South Pacific: Gaining Prominence in Indian Foreign Policy Calculations

This backgrounder explores three issues: the strategic significance of the South Pacific for India, the advantages that India enjoys over China in the region, and the status of India’s relationship with Papua New Guinea in the light of the recent visit by President Mukherjee.

May 10, 2016

Myanmar in China’s Push into the Indian Ocean

China wants to regain the position it once enjoyed under the military government in Myanmar. However, its efforts at securing a direct access to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar are unlikely to see an early fruition.

March 14, 2016

US-Cuba Relations: From Breakdown to Breakthrough

The Obama administration has acknowledged that their policy on Cuba has been the most outdated one, considering it has been more than two decades since the Cold War got over. The biggest knot in their relationship has been untied, but that doesn’t spare the leaders from confronting some age-old pinpricks.

August 07, 2015

The 2014 Mid-term Elections in the United States

There are many reasons for the decision of the people to vote for the Republican Party in these elections ranging from economy,
governance, foreign policy decisions, the mid-term factor and mostly President Obama's unpopularity

December 17, 2014

2014 General Elections in Kashmir Valley: Incidents of Violence and its Impact

The background study looks at incidence of violence in the Kashmir Valley during the 2014 parliamentary elections and the correlation of violence to voter turnout. This study also lists out various actors responsible for violence and the trends in voting patterns from different regions of the Valley.

September 25, 2014

Pages

Top