Strategic Analysis

The Rise of Kim Yo-Jong in the North Korean Regime

The state narrative of North Korea, the story that keeps the Kims in power and the population uncomplaining, is built as much around international politics as it is domestic. In...

US-Taliban Talks for Afghan Peace: Complexities Galore

The ongoing dialogue between the US and the Taliban has generated lot of interest among strategic analysts in the region and beyond. There are indications that the Taliban are hardening...

Ashok K. Behuria , Yaqoob-ul-Hassan , Sanya Saroha |
March 2019 |
Strategic Analysis

Critical Analysis of India’s Safeguards Agreement INFCIRC/754 with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

India concluded a fresh safeguards agreement (INFCIRC/754) with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2009. All aspects of safeguards measures including the items to be safeguarded were deliberated upon,...

Decimating Democracy in 140 Characters or Less: Pakistan Army’s Subjugation of State Institutions through Twitter

The Directorate General of Inter Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR), or the Pakistan Army’s media wing has perfected the form of subverting democracy and showcasing the dominant position of the Army...

Reimagining Pakistan: Transforming a Dysfunctional Nuclear State

Pakistan as a state has been in constant turmoil since its creation in 1947. Institutions of a modern, functional state could never take root in the country. Consequently, it has...

Preventing Chemical Weapons: Arms Control and Disarmament as the Sciences Converge

This 652-page book has six main sections and in total 21 chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. The basic themes discussed in the book include the prevention and disarmament issues...

Ajey Lele |
January 2019 |
Strategic Analysis

China’s War on Smuggling: Law, Economic Life and the Making of the Modern State, 1845-1965

The process of state-building in China has taken place in phases, beginning with the efforts of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the Nationalist government (1928–1949) and later communist rule (1949- present)....

Strategic Wisdom from the Orient: Evaluating the Contemporary relevance of Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Sun Tzu’s Art of War

Can non-Western sources of classical thought enhance our understanding about issues of statecraft, strategy-making, foreign policy, war and peace? Is it important to study such non-Western sources? And, can such...

Akshay Joshi |
January 2019 |
Strategic Analysis

Saudi Arabia–Iran Contention and the Role of Foreign Actors

The Sykes–Picot Agreement, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf Wars, and other events that have unfolded after the Arab Uprising (the Arab Spring), have altered the course of West Asian history....

An Iranian Perspective on Iran–US Relations: Idealists Versus Materialists

Over the past four decades, the relationship between Iran and the US has been marked by conflicts, ranging from hostage-taking and sanctions to military confrontation. The present research aims at...

Mohammad Reza Chitsazian , Seyed Mohammad Ali Taghavi |
January 2019 |
Strategic Analysis

India–Japan Defence Ties: Building a Strategic Partnership

India–Japan defence ties that began less than a decade ago have witnessed unprecedented progress. Until recently they were dominated by military exercises, training and regular dialogues, but now they are...

Assessing India’s Engagements in the INSTC and Analysing its Implications on India’s Commercial and Strategic Interests

The INSTC formalised by India, Iran and Russia at the start of the new millennium to develope an alternative transport system linking India with Central Asia and Eurasia floundered for...

East of India, South of China: Sino-India Encounters in Southeast Asia

With the rise of China and the rising tension between the China-South China Sea littoral states, the Southeast Asian region has emerged as a pivot of international politics. Changing US...

What is Russia up to in the Middle East?

Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2015 is seen as a significant milestone in the geopolitics of the Middle East. By establishing stakes on the ground, the...

Rajorshi Roy |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

Pakistan Army: Institution that Matters

Described variously as a ‘garrison’ or ‘praetorian’ state’, Pakistan is the only country in South Asia that has been under military rule for almost three-quarters of its sovereign existence. Even...

Aliva Mishra |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

A life in diplomacy

This is a candid, stimulating, and highly readable account of Ambassador Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra’s diplomatic life, and through it, also of the evolution of Indian foreign policy since 1947. The...

Jayant Prasad |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

Xi Jinping’s Control of the Chinese Army

Since taking over power in 2012, the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s key initiative has been to make the Communist Party of China (CPC) relevant in the function of China’s political...

Amrita Jash |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

Economic Security: The Missing Link in India’s National Security Architecture

A flurry of changes in India’s national security apparatus in the recent past have been the subject of public discussion. These include the constitution of a Defence Procurement Committee under...

Zubin Dash |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

The Quest for Federalism in Myanmar

The question of autonomy or self-determination in Myanmar goes back to the country’s pre-independence era. It is an important historical issue which unified and divided the country. The idea of...

Thucydides: Quoting and Misquoting

The Peloponnesian war was fought from 431 to 401 BC between the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the Athenian Empire, known as the Delian League led by Pericles, the...

P. K. Gautam |
November 2018 |
Strategic Analysis