Strategic Analysis

India’s Bilateral Security Relationship in South Asia

The article argues that the contours of a security architecture are becoming slowly visible in South Asia. This process is nurtured by two developments. First, since the 2000s, India has...

India–US Defence Cooperation: Assessing Strategic Imperatives

Over the last decade or so, especially during much of Barack Obama’s presidential tenure, the defence sector has become the focus area of cooperation between India and the US. India’s...

Vivek Mishra |
January 2018 |
Strategic Analysis

Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World by Shadi Hamid

Is Islam compatible with modernity? Can Muslim societies adapt to Westphalian democratic principles? Islamic Exceptionalism revisits this recurring debate by examining political transitions in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey, where Islamist...

Negotiating the US–Japan alliance: Japan confidential by Yukinori Komine

If there is one country that is undergoing unprecedented shifts in its security policies, it is Japan; Speculation was rife that Japan would try and step out of America shadow...

G.V.C. Naidu |
November 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft by Robert D. Blackwill and Jennifer M. Harris

Geo-economics was one among several ideational constructs postulated as the likely defining characteristic of international politics after the end of the Cold War. A neologism coined by Edward Luttwak, the...

The Brexit-Belt and Road Axis: India for Neighbourhood First

China's Belt & Road Initiative (B&RI), also known as One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR), depends for its success on a tacit alliance with Britain and the financial acumen of the City of London....

Sandhya Jain |
November 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Too Early to Celebrate! The Decline of Somali Piracy off the East Coast of Africa

The pirates of Somalia constitute one one of the greatest threats to maritime security in modern time.Their operations started amidst the political instability, economic crisis and state collapse that characterised...

Muslim Traditionalism and Violence in the Middle East

In recent years, especially after the 9/11 attacks on America, Western academics and policy-makers have increasingly viewed Islam as an inherently violent religion and Muslims as terrorists.

Korea’s Cultural Diplomacy: An Analysis of the Hallyu in India

Korea’s rapid economic transformation from being one of the poorest countries during the 1950s to becoming a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1996 surprised...

Waiting for Godot*: India and United Nations Security Council Reform

This article analyses the history of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform with a particular focus on India’s aspiration and attempts to become a permanent member on the Council....

Rajeesh Kumar |
November 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Disaster Relief as a Political Tool: Analysing Indian and Chinese Responses after the Nepal Earthquakes

In the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, China and India immediately sent relief teams. The relief efforts in Nepal showcase a competitive aspect of the two major regional...

Bibek Chand |
November 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Heading East: Security, Trade, and Environment Between India and Southeast Asia by Karen Stoll Farrell and Sumit Ganguly (eds.)

Southeast Asia appeared in India’s purview in the post-Cold War era when it realised that it could reap substantial benefits by fostering relations with parts of the world other than...

Shivani Agrawal |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service by Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal

Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal have co-authored a marvellous treatise on the doings and inner workings of one of the most feared secret service agencies in the world—Mossad. It follows...

Jatin Kumar |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

CPEC in Pakistan’s Quest for Energy Security

In May 2017, some 1,200 delegates from 110 countries, including 29 visiting heads of state and government leaders, gathered in Beijing for China’s biggest diplomatic event, which was held to...

Shebonti Ray Dadwal , Chithra Purushothaman |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

The Flaw of Immediate Cyber Counter Strikes

A dominant paradigm for militarised cyber operations, owing to a growing interest in such actions, is seeking an ability to strike back and launch cyber counter attacks immediately after being...

The Battle for Siachen Glacier: Beyond Just a Bilateral Dispute

Contemporary scholarship working on Indo-Pak issues has tended to view Siachen as a bilateral issue, and therefore, not much literature has been generated analysing the conflict beyond this spatio-temporal realm....

Prateek Joshi |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Framing South Africa’s Soft Power through Non-State Sources

South Africa arguably stands well above its regional counterparts in terms of soft power resources. This is not entirely unconnected with the uncalculated attempts by non-state actors to extend the...

The US Concept and Practice of Hybrid Warfare

The term ‘hybrid warfare’ has been used by American military experts for more than a decade already. However, until recently, there was no officially accepted definition of the term, and,...

Compressing Politics in Counterinsurgency (COIN): Implications for COIN Theory from India’s Northeast

Counterinsurgency (COIN) has long been recognised as a political phenomenon, but current theoretical understandings of politics in COIN reflect ideal types, overlooking the depth and complexity of the politics of...

Alex Waterman |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Optimising India–US Maritime-Strategic Convergence

The current trajectory of India–US relations is encouraging, but needs to be sustained by optimising their maritime-strategic convergence. In the maritime-configured Indo-Pacific region, the two countries could undertake substantive ‘transactions’...

G.S. Khurana |
September 2017 |
Strategic Analysis