Manish

Publication

India in SCO: India’s Diplomatic Balancing in a Constrained Multilateral Order

Given the continuing expansion of India’s multilateral experiments and engagements, now is an opportune time to ponder over how India reconciles its cosmopolitan moral principles with strategic pragmatism in multilateral forums often dominated by other great powers. To appreciate the above issue, this commentary focuses on India’s CT (counter-terrorism) diplomacy and strategy against the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit at Tianjin in China from August 31 to September 1, 2025.

Half a Century of the Biological Weapon Convention: Progress, Pitfalls, and Prospects

As the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) marks its fiftieth anniversary since entering into force in 1975, this chapter offers a comprehensive examination of its evolution, limitations, and future trajectory. The BWC, a landmark treaty banning the development and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons, has shaped international norms against biological warfare. However, despite its symbolic and normative importance, the convention remains structurally weak, lacking verification mechanisms, robust institutional support, and clear enforcement procedures.

Analysing India–US Cooperation in the Context of Changing Nuclear Order

The article aims to analyse the developments and challenges in the India– US defence cooperation in the face of the ongoing decay of the nuclear order. While the defence cooperation has grown manifold, it is pertinent to understand the pathways in which India and the US can cooperate towards building a stable nuclear order. The effort should be to minimise the risk of any accidental nuclear war in the wake of heightened tensions and heated conventional warfare in the current geopolitical landscape, incorporating missile forces, weapons of mass destruction, tactical nuclear weapons, and others. The article begins with an outline of the India–US defence cooperation followed by an understanding of the Indian stance on disarmament and nuclear treaties; the evolution of the India–US nuclear cooperation; an overview of the changing global nuclear order and its impact on the conventional warfare; the perceptions of India and the US on nuclear stability; prospects and challenges in defence cooperation against threats to nuclear stability; and the way forward to cooperate on building deterrence and nuclear stability.

Drones and Arms Control

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or the unmanned aircraft, commonly called ‘drones’, have emerged as the new face of a technologically oriented warfare today. They provide the state with the technological capabilities to strike with utmost accuracy without the risk of endangering human lives of the armed forces. Today, drones have become the strategic weapons of choice for most of the states, including India.