Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Demanding an Inclusive Governance: Nepal’s 2025 Youth Uprising in Perspective

 The youth uprising in Nepal in September 2025 must be understood not as an isolated incident but as a striking manifestation of a global trend of increasing visibility and influence of Generation Z (Gen Z; born between 1997 and 2012) in political and social discourse. Keeping the cases of Sri Lanka (2022) and Bangladesh (2024) aside in the South Asian region, there have been such youth-led movements in Indonesia (‘Peringatan Darurat’ in 2024 and ‘Indonesia Gelap’ or Dark Indonesia in 2025) and Madagascar (2025). Similar movements have also emerged elsewhere, such as in Morocco, where young people used TikTok, Instagram, and Discord to demand better education and healthcare, as well as in the Philippines, where student-led campaigns have increasingly challenged corruption and called for greater political accountability. Read More

India’s Role as ‘Preferred Security Partner’ in the Indian Ocean Region: A Strategic Assessment of Maritime Leadership and Regional Cooperation

 Over the last few years India has been progressively attempting to establish itself as a ‘preferred security partner’ in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This transformation represents a fundamental shift from India’s historically passive maritime posture described by strategic thinkers as a manifestation of its ‘sea blindness’ to a robust maritime-oriented outlook characterised by proactive regional leadership, enhanced naval capabilities, multilateral security arrangements and comprehensive engagement with littoral states. This essay examines the evolution, mechanisms and implications of India’s emergence as a preferred security partner in the IOR. Read More

The Nehru Years: An International History of Indian Non-Alignment

 Originating in the wake of cold war bipolarity, non-alignment became the dominant approach under Nehru, until the early 1960s to navigate India’s engagement with the international system. Faced with volatility of superpower contestation, the policy of non-alignment described as ‘leading ourselves’Footnote1 served as the basis for India’s diplomatic interventions in addressing cold war politics around decolonisation, regional conflicts, disarmament and nuclear arms control. The military rout in the 1962 Sino-Indian war which knocked India out of the ‘world of its own making’, marked a major rupture point in the Indian strategic outlook. A re-evaluation of India’s foreign policy objectives and strategies in the aftermath of the conflict led to reduced enthusiasm for non-alignment as New Delhi engineered an insular foreign policy approach, with more focus towards its immediate periphery and regional interests and recalibrating ties with major powers like the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Soviet Union (SU). Read More

China’s Air Power and Maritime Strategies Towards the Indian Ocean Region

 Joshy M. Paul’s China’s Air Power and Maritime Strategies Towards the Indian Ocean Region offers a detailed account of Beijing’s evolving air and naval posture towards the wider Indo-Pacific region, with a keen focus on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). As a distinguished researcher with immense experience in airpower and maritime security of the Indo-Pacific, Paul uses a comprehensive set of data, starting from the onset of China’s shift towards air and maritime power, to unpack the dynamics of the strategies Beijing formulated to address the Indian Ocean Region. Read More

Decision Making in Defence

 The post-second World War period has seen rapid development of new strategic doctrines, consequent on major technological breakthroughs in weapons systems, transport and communication capabilities. These doctrines in turn have had a profound impact on the decision- making processes, command and control apparatus and civil-military relationships in different countries, which maintain sizeable military establishments. The new strategic doctrines emphasise deterrence through an arms race, both quantitative and qualitative, readiness to react with forces in being and strategic mobility, watching all other nations continuously and long-range as well as short-term planning. Though a number of doctrines have been categorised, they are all derived from one basic doctrine- deterrence through preparedness. Read More

Maldives, Populism and Politicisation of Foreign Policy: India in between India First and India Out?

 This article posits that Mohamed Muizzu coming to power, and the shifting tectonics of India First and India Out fits in the template of populism, and politicisation of foreign policy. Deploying the discursive method, the article focuses on Muizzu’s speeches (2023–2025), and argues that the India factor was deployed for the purpose of politicisation and domestic mobilisation. However, I underline that politicisation of foreign policy may not always lead to tangible shifts in foreign policy orientation. This highlights the limits of populist politicisation by Muizzu, especially in the wake of economic crisis, and strategic passivity by China. Read More

From Cold War Distance to Indo-Pacific Partnership: An Overview of the Past, Present, and Future of India-ASEAN Strategic Engagement

 The year 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and ASEAN and its progression into a comprehensive strategic partnership. Meanwhile, the unfolding geopolitical developments in the form of great power competition are fast eroding ASEAN’s centrality, thereby shrinking the diplomatic space that ASEAN needs to balance the two big powers (Zhiqun Citation2024). Amid increasing great power competition, ASEAN’s act of straddling between the US-led security guarantee and the economic benefits of engaging with China is becoming increasingly difficult (Thompson Citation2024). This shift in the geopolitical environment in Southeast Asia is also pressurising India to recalibrate its regional strategies. A historical analysis of Indo-ASEAN relations is necessary for situating the evolving dynamics between the two in the Indo-Pacific context, as past choices and constraints continue to shape Indo-ASEAN engagement. This Commentary analyses three major geopolitical factors involving India and ASEAN from India’s independence to the Indo-Pacific era. The factors are: the similarity in their geopolitical objectives, the degree of convergence in their geopolitical alignment with the United States (US) and China, and the relative power dynamics between India and ASEAN. Drawing on this analysis, the Commentary highlights the extent of strategic convergence between India and ASEAN during each period, showing how Indo-ASEAN relations have evolved from symbolic diplomacy to substantive strategic cooperation. Read More

Friends: India’s Closest Strategic Partners

 In an era marked by geopolitical flux, strategic rivalries, and an increasingly multipolar world order, the question of how India can safeguard its national interests while asserting itself as a global power has become more pressing than ever. In his book titled Friends: India’s Closest Strategic Partners, Sreeram Chaulia offers a compelling response: the key lies in cultivating and sustaining dependable international partnerships. Through detailed case studies of India’s bilateral relations with seven pivotal countries—Japan, Australia, the United States, Russia, France, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates—Chaulia examines how strategic friendships are shaping India’s foreign policy and global positioning. His analysis provides a timely reflection on the evolving nature of diplomacy and India’s quest for strategic autonomy amid shifting global dynamics. Each of these countries gets its own chapter in the book, where Chaulia explains how the friendship with India developed over time, what it looks like today, and what challenges lie ahead. Read More

Emerging from the Shadows: Essays on Disarmament by Indian Women

 After prolonged negotiations, 94 non-nuclear weapon States signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017 without the participation of any nuclear weapons States. In February 2023, Russia suspended its participation in New START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty signed in 2010, citing the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The doomsday clock is ticking alarmingly, 89 seconds away from midnight mayhem. How does one make sense of a world where humanity has chosen to co-exist with nuclear weapons? Emerging from the Shadows: Essays on Disarmament by Indian Women is a series of essays discussing the art of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and its journey, fused with India’s engagement with the issue. The diverse topics it addresses range from the interlinkage of non-proliferation, disarmament and foreign policy, confidence building measures, verification processes, nuclear risk reduction, nuclear energy market and its trends, biosecurity and the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. It is an analytically crafted account and a review of contemporary discourse around disarmament entwined with non-proliferation. The authors place great emphasis on the interconnected nature of the disarmament and non-proliferation approaches, where the latter draws credibility from, and lays groundwork for, the former. Read More

The Silk Road

 Historical background Traditionally, an improvised caravan route used by both the Chinese and European traders for transporting once famous Chinese silk to West Asia and Europe, the legendary ‘Silk Road’ between Chinese-occupied Sinkiang and Gilgit (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) has become the focus of world attention with the re-opening on August 24, 1969, of Pakistan-China border trade on this route after 20 years (since 1949). The subject has assumed further importance recently as it came to light that the Chinese were building a new road connecting the Tibet-Sinkiang road with the Gilgit-Sinkiang road through Khunjerab Pass (16,000 ft). Read More
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