Publication Filter

Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the West by Ahmad Rashid

There is immense strategic interest in the Af-Pak region. The US has spent over half a trillion dollars in Afghanistan and perhaps billions in Pakistan. NATO has spent money and sacrificed lives in Afghanistan. India, China, Russia and Iran have given large packages of aid and invested in the country. What will be the future of these trillion dollars of expenditure, huge investments and diplomatic efforts in the Af-PaK region? Ahmad Rashid offers a disturbing answer. Pakistan is on the brink of collapse, Afghanistan is in the midst of a civil war, and the Americans are pulling out.

Lee Kuan Yew: The Grandmaster’s Insights on China, the United States and the World by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill with Ali Wyne

Without doubt, Lee Kuan Yew has been among the most distinguished statesmen to emerge from the ruins of post-colonial Asia. He orchestrated and led the transformation of Singapore from a poverty-stricken and war-ravaged city into a prosperous and developed city-state in less than four decades by laying robust, hybrid and sustainable economic and political structures. A disciplined, orderly and controlled democracy, Singapore has emerged as a hub for the convergence of western and eastern processes and competencies.

Through the Gender Lens: A Feminist Analysis of ‘Security’

Nicole Detraz, International Security and Gender (Dimensions of Security), Polity, UK, 2012, 168 pp., $21.39 (trade paperback), ISBN 978-0745651170

Digital Public Diplomacy and a Strategic Narrative for India

States articulate their identity and foreign policy interests in the international system, seeking to influence the perceptions of others and to create an environment in which their goals and efficacy as an actor are viewed as legitimate. In the age of mass communication technologies and new media, the public diplomacy initiatives utilised to communicate these narratives have gone digital.

Malaysia–India Defence Cooperation: Need for a Paradigm Shift before Strategic Partnership

The objective of this article is to discuss defence cooperation between Malaysia and India in the post-Cold War era (1991–2012), mainly from Malaysia’s perspective. The article is divided into four parts. First, the historical background of Malaysia–India defence cooperation during the colonial period until the Cold War is discussed briefly. Second, defence cooperation in the post-Cold War period involving the three services (air force, navy and army) is examined. Third, certain issues in Malaysia–India defence cooperation are analysed.

India’s South Asia Dilemma and Regional Cooperation: Relevance of Cultural Diplomacy

This article highlights the current relevance of cultural diplomacy not as a panacea for the problems in India’s relations with its South Asian neighbours but as a way of dealing with the dilemma it faces. Against the backdrop of India’s position in South Asia and the importance of the region, the article makes an estimate of cultural diplomacy.

Factoring the RCEP and the TPP: China, India and the Politics of Regional Integration

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are not necessarily two contending trade liberalising models, but their import and arrival have posed stiff political challenges for many countries, including China and India, Asia’s two heavyweights. With these two initiatives, the regional trade of Asia is entering an interesting phase of liberalisation and integration.

Federalising India’s Neighbourhood Policy: Making the States Stakeholders

The politics of coalition has posed new challenges to India’s foreign policy. This problem becomes particularly evident in India’s neighbourhood, which inevitably becomes intertwined with domestic politics. The rise of regional political parties and their role as coalition partners makes it more difficult for the union government to ignore provincial sentiments. Competitive politics featuring both national and regional political parties provides primacy to local interest as this is linked to the vote bank politics.

Beyond the Indo-Naga Talks: Some Reflections

More than 16 years have passed since the government and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah faction, or NSCN(IM))

Dalai Lama Central to Resolution of the Tibet Issue

Since June 2013, there has been a spate of activity on the Tibet controversy. Sparking it off was the interview of Professor Jin Wei1 from the Central Party School in Asian Weekly2 on June 6, entitled ‘Reopen Talks and Resolve Tibetan Issues’, in which she advocated engaging the Dalai Lama rather than demonising him. Soon after, the International Campaign of Tibet reported that China had lifted the 17-year ban on the display of Dalai Lama portraits in Sichuan and Qinghai.