India’s National Security: Annual Review 2018
National security refers to securing a nation’s citizens, territory, resources, assets, ideologies, institutions, and interests against threats which may emanate from changing geopolitical state of affairs, changing relations between nations, groups, races, sects, advancing technology and changing ideology. In the prevailing complex geopolitical scenario, India’s national security is facing new challenges and acquiring new dimensions with every passing year.
India’s Domestic Debate over China’s Growing Strategic Presence in the Indian Ocean
This article seeks to capture the domestic debate in India over China’s activities in the Indian Ocean. It engages the critical geopolitical articulation around formal, practical and popular geopolitics, and provides a narrow perspective on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It begins with a look at how India and China perceive the IOR, which is crucial to understand how the Indian Ocean is framed in the public consciousness in India.
Debating Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
Technology and the armed forces have a symbiotic relationship. Many technologies which are presently used in day-to-day life, like the Internet or navigation systems (global positioning system [GPS]), actually have a link to, or are derived from, military innovations. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one arena of present generation technology that militaries have been developing mainly for two purposes: first, for juxtaposing it on their existing defence architecture for its performance enhancement; and second, for developing new types of militarily instruments and weapon systems.
The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan Under the Nuclear Shadow
Ever since India and Pakistan emerged as declared nuclear weapon states in 1998, national security ideation in both countries has factored in the nuclear dimension in significantly different ways. While Pakistan views its nuclear arsenal as an offensive weapon against what it perceives to be an existential threat from India and a conduit to wage a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India has a nuanced perspective of nuclear weapons as primarily a credible deterrent and not a weapon of war fighting.
Deciphering Beijing’s Digital Connection in Africa
As the digital infrastructure backed by China becomes increasingly prevalent in the African continent, it is also important for the latter to have enough oversight to ensure that these tools are not misused. Moreover, it would be more beneficial for Africa to allow other players to thrive in the region.