In a country like Pakistan, where none of its Prime Ministers could ever complete a full five-year term in office, the role of the so-called ‘deep State’ — a term used as a euphemism for its Army—in exercising disproportionate control over the affairs of the country—has often been highlighted.

• Authors: Adil Rasheed
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The two authors of the book under review are academics at separate campuses in the United States, with the first having to his credit previously published books in international and strategic affairs. In their collaborative effort, the authors have chosen to draw attention to the perceived challenge being posed to the existing world order—a creation of the Western alliance led by the United States. Important members of the alliance—Britain, France, Germany and Japan—favour continuity of the existing order. They have been labelled as status quo powers.

• Authors: Sunil Khatri
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The outcome of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, held in October 2022, was on predictable lines. It was no surprise that President Xi Jinping was chosen CPC supremo for an unprecedented third time, defying the two-term limit set by Deng Xiaoping to prevent a single person from gaining absolute and autocratic power like Mao Zedong. Xi, considered the most powerful leader in China since Mao, is determined to put China on the ‘rejuvenation’ path and attain superpower status for the Middle Kingdom by mid-century.

• Authors: Laxman Kumar Behera
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

Large-scale disasters have far-reaching impacts that transcend national borders, making a coordinated, “one region-one response” approach essential, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bay of Bengal region has recognized this need and is actively developing structures for regional cooperation, including in disaster management.

• Authors: Rajat Mohan Bhatt , Deepali Garge
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

On 5 August 2019, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold decision and made drastic changes to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, thus changing the legal status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This further sparked a debate over the real architect of the Article. There has been a lot of debate and discussion around Article 370. Article 370 provided a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The debate around Article 370 is highly political, biased, and targeted.

• Authors: Pavan Kumar
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The Governments of India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a bridge across the Palk Strait in July 2002 to join the island nation with the mainland of South Asia by road and rail. The objective of this article is to highlight the likely impact the proposed bridge would have on trade in goods and services and travel between the two countries and beyond.

• Authors: Gayasha Sathsarani Samarakoon
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The past few years have been tumultuous for the Chinese State and big-tech relations. The ground reality for the big-tech internet companies in China has transformed from being indulgent and overreaching to scrutiny and crackdown. This article attempts to analyse the dynamics between the Chinese State and big tech, taking Alibaba’s journey as a case study.

• Authors: Megha Shrivastava
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 again brought the religio-cultural significance of ‘martyrdom’ into limelight in Iran. He got recognized as the ‘Defender-Martyr of Holy Shrine’ given his role against ISIS in protecting the Shi’i holy shrines. This article analyses the relationship between ‘shrines and ‘martyrdom’ in Iran’s strategy against ISIS.

• Authors: Shafat Yousuf , Rafiullah Azmi
• January-February 2023
• Strategic Analysis

The conspicuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan has resulted in a political vacuum, garnering immediate attention of regional and great powers alike. In The Comrades and the Mullahs, presenting Afghanistan’s long history of foreign invasions and resistance, journalists Ananth Krishnan and Stanly Johny show how the country was a theatre for the Great Game between the British and Russian Empires, and later got caught in Cold War rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union. The return of the Taliban in Afghanistan has certainly become a diplomatic predicament for India.

• Authors: Muneeb Yousuf
• November 2022
• Strategic Analysis

The coming of Donald Trump to power as the 45th President of the United States amounted to a moment of reckoning for the American foreign policy establishment. With his unconventional posturing and populist moorings, the Trump presidency seemed antithetical to Washington DC’s ‘Blob’ worldview that guided American foreign policy in the post-Cold War years.

• Authors: Sanjeet Kashyap
• November 2022
• Strategic Analysis