Strategic Analysis

State-Building in the Steppe: Challenges to Kazakhstan’s Modernizing Aspirations

The Republic of Kazakhstan seeks to undergo modernization over the course of the next several decades and transform into one of the world’s top 30 economies. To fulfil this aim,...

India’s Stance and Renewed Commitment to UN Peacekeeping

The United Nations (UN) adopted UN Peacekeeping, during its initial years, to restore international peace and security. As the world body celebrated 70 years of its existence in 2015, UN...

Impact of Political Economy on Economic Strategy Making in India (1947–1991)

What has been the impact of Political Economy and ideational factors such as formative experiences of a State, ideas of strategic thinkers and history on the strategic economic choices made...

Japan’s Proactive Pacifism: Investing in Multilateralization and Omnidirectional Hedging

Since 2012, Japan’s foreign policy under Prime Minister (PM) Abe has been characterized as assertive, welcome or provocative. By employing the fear of abandonment/entrapment theory as the analytical framework, this...

China’s Naval Base(s) in the Indian Ocean—Signs of a Maritime Grand Strategy?

The article assesses China’s Indian Ocean strategy against the backdrop of its naval base development in Djibouti. It argues that China’s naval force posturing stems from a doctrinal shift to...

India’s look east to act east policy: tracking the opportunities and challenges in the Indo-Pacific

The 21st century is known as the Asian Century, and the Indo-Pacific is the most dynamic region of this century in terms of economics, security challenges and demographics. Against this...

India’s war: the making of modern south Asia (1939–1945)

Srinath Raghavan’s India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia (1939–1945) is a welcome addition to his previous volumes on South Asia, in particular on Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime...

India–China relations: politics of resources, identity and authority in a multipolar world order

Jagannath P. Panda’s India–China Relations: Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order is a welcome addition among the plethora of scholarship available on India–China relations, by...

Neoclassical realist theory of international politics

In the mid-1990s, Colin Elman cited a maxim horses for courses meaning ‘every horse is suited to a particular course’ to underscore the inherent weakness of neorealist theories in that...

Stress-Test for Chinese Restraint: China Evaluates Russia’s Use of Force

The article discusses if China will be inspired by its strategic partner Russia to use force as an instrument of its foreign policy. After a pro et con discussion the...

Green growth: ideology, political economy and the alternatives

By the 1970s, the idea of development had lost much of its swagger and bite. Environmental degradation, in particular, ballooned into a global anxiety. Soon enough, development enthusiasts found themselves...

UNSC Resolution 2321 and the DPRK?

In a strong response to the nuclear warhead test of Pyongyang on September 9, 2016, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at its 7821st meeting, held on November 30, 2016,...

Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership: India’s Contribution to Strengthening Nuclear Security

In the 21st century, nuclear security (NS) risks are more tangible with the probability of nuclear weapons and materials falling into the hands of terrorists becoming more real. The NS...

Globalization of the Jihadist Threat: Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago

Despite a well-integrated Muslim population, and an environment where there is no tangible discrimination or lack of opportunity, the Jihadist ideology has succeeded in taking root in Trinidad. Links with...

Cambodia–Thailand Sovereignty Disputes: Implications for Cambodia’s Strategic Environment and Defence Organization

This article analyses two security challenges facing the Royal Cambodian Government (RGC) and the Cambodian Defence Organization at the strategic level for the next decade. The first obvious challenge relates...

Smart diplomacy: exploring China-India synergy, by P.S. Suryanarayana

In Smart Diplomacy: Exploring China-India Synergy, P.S. Suryanarayana has sought to answer the questions: ‘Will China and India live at peace with each other? Will they be able to overcome...

New south Asian security: six core relations underpinning regional security, by Chris Ogden

Theorising about international relations in South Asia is a daunting task for any scholar of International Relations. The challenge lies in explaining the causal forces behind state behaviour, in order...

Medha Bisht |
January 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

Unheeded hinterland: identity and sovereignty in northeast India, by Dillip Gogoi

Partly the result of a political and physical isolation compounded by decades of conflict in the region, Northeast India is often viewed through the prism of security studies, institutional performance...

Brexit: Harbinger of an Unexpected New World Order

The stunning British vote of June 24, 2016, to quit the European Union (EU)—dubbed Brexit—has triggered a major realignment of economic and political forces across the globe, strengthening the template...

Sandhya Jain |
January 2017 |
Strategic Analysis

The Challenges and Opportunities of a Negotiated Settlement in Afghanistan

For the last 15 years, the war in Afghanistan has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and the United States has sent thousands of troops and spent billions of dollars...

Aref Dostyar |
January 2017 |
Strategic Analysis