Back Channel with Pakistan Army: A Gambit Worth Trying The aversion in India to dealing directly with Pakistan's military establishment is entirely understandable, but is also unreal given the power dynamics of Pakistani politics. Sushant Sareen April 26, 2011 IDSA Comments
Emerging Dynamics of Pakistan’s Internal Situation and the Security Challenge for India As of now, institutions within Pakistan are strong enough to prevent both the balkanisation of Pakistan as well as the possibility of the state falling into theocratic hands. Pakistan is also unlikely to wind up terror operations against India as it considers the terrorist organisations to be its strategic assets. Internal disturbances within Pakistan allow it to maintain plausible deniability and the shifting of blame on to non-state actors over whom Pakistan claims it has no control. This paper argues that India’s response to terror will have to be well thought out. Dhruv C Katoch April 2011 Journal of Defence Studies
ISRO’s Successful PSLV-C16 Flight With the successful sixteenth flight of the PSLV-C16, the “feel good” factor has returned to ISRO which was buffeted by failures and controversy over the last year. Ajey Lele April 25, 2011 IDSA Comments
Making Sense of ‘Nasr’ In rethinking Cold Start as a default option and working towards proactive ‘contingency’ options, India is a step ahead in doctrinal shadow boxing. Ali Ahmed April 24, 2011 IDSA Comments
China’s Expanding Footprint in Nepal: Threats to India Nepal used to be a safe zone for India. China was least interested in Nepal till 1950s. But strategic design changed once China forcefully occupied Tibet. Nehru tried to strengthen the Indian positioning in Himalayan sphere vis-àvis China. Things became more complicated once China started intruding in Nepal. This article tries to see the emerging Chinese threats from Nepal. Since 1,751 km India-Nepal border runs through 20 districts of five Indian states. The India-Nepal border is open. China has tried through its long strategy to erase Nepalese dependency on India. Satish Kumar April 2011 Journal of Defence Studies
Outcome Budgeting in India: The Need for Re-Engineering The transformation from the comforts of outlay budgeting to an environment of accountability with outcome budgeting is difficult but not impossible. This re-engineering is essential as in the absence of outcome budgeting, budget management may be ineffective and ineffective budget management would weaken the Public Financial Management (PFM) system. A weakened PFM could even threaten established economic, social and political equilibriums. Sanjeev Mishra April 2011 Journal of Defence Studies
Alex Mintz and Karl DeRouen Jr., Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making Leaders make decisions to go to war, make peace, form alliances, establish diplomatic relations, take a position on nuclear nonproliferation, impose economic sanctions, or ratify global environmental agreements. The focus of Alex Mintz and Karl DeRouen’s book Understanding Foreign Policy Decision Making is this broad range of foreign policy decisions. The book presents a decision making approach to foreign policy analysis. The benefits of such an approach are that it analyses not only the outcomes of decisions but also the dynamics and the processes of decision making. Saroj Bishoyi April 2011 Journal of Defence Studies
China’s Aircraft Carrier: Some Observations China’s aircraft carrier programme will not only affect the balance of power in the Asia Pacific region but also add impetus to the Chinese maritime intent. Avinash Godbole , Sarabjeet Singh Parmar April 21, 2011 IDSA Comments
India-Pakistan Game-Theoretic Interplay To make the transition from the prevalent Nash Equilibrium with its lower payoffs to Pareto-optimal which will yield higher pay offs, India and Pakistan must break away from their traditional thinking of making no concessions. Arvind Gupta , Sarita Azad April 20, 2011 IDSA Comments
Kan Naoto’s Political Skills Under Test If the political infighting continues, Japan will be left rudderless and the gigantic task of reconstruction will get complicated. Rajaram Panda April 20, 2011 IDSA Comments