Strategic Analysis

Arctic: The Next Great Game in Energy Geopolitics?

As global warming and melting of the ice is making the Arctic increasingly accessible, the region’s hydrocarbon riches are attracting international interest. Thus far, despite the presence of vast untapped...

The Polar Code and Arctic Navigation

The ongoing climate-induced changes in the Arctic have resulted in prospects for exploiting resources, use of the Northern Sea Route for movement of goods, and new destinations for the cruise...

Vijay Sakhuja |
November 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

The Northern Sea Route: Smooth Sailing Ahead?

Transit traffic on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has increased considerably in the last few years, in relative terms. There is no clear pattern of transit cargo on the NSR...

Arlid Moe |
November 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

Asian Stakes and Arctic Governance

Building on stakeholder management theory, this article examines the salience of Asian stakes in three key areas of Arctic governance: management and use of natural resources; shipping; and environmental protection....

Kautilya: The True Founder of Economics by Balbir Singh Sihag

Kautilya: The True Founder of Economics is a unique contribution to the subject of Kautilya’s Arthashastra (KA). Arthashastradiscusses at length governance, diplomacy, military science and political economy.1 However, never has...

Divya Malhotra |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

China and the Environment: The Green Revolution by Sam Geall (ed.)

Propelled by its rapid economic growth, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is undergoing multitudes of transitions simultaneously. These transitions are substantially transforming state–society relations in China. The conventional wisdom...

Avinash Godbole |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

India at Risk: Mistakes, Misconceptions and Misadventures of Security Policy by Jaswant Singh

This is Jaswant Singh’s eleventh known book, and here he keeps his focus on experiences rather than rhetoric to deal with the complex design of India’s security challenges. While relying...

Atul K. Thakur |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

Deterrence Stability and Escalation Control in South Asia by Michael Krepon and Julia Thompson (eds.)

Ever since India and Pakistan went overtly nuclear in 1998, a plethora of studies by scholars, both from the subcontinent and outside, have pondered the issues of ‘deterrence stability’ and...

India and the Republic of Korea: Engaged Democracies by Skand R. Tayal

At a time when the Republic of Korea (South Korea) occupies considerable space in India’s foreign policy, particularly in its ‘look east’ policy, it is incongruous that there is no...

Rup Narayan Das |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

India and the Allied Occupation of Japan 1945–52 by T.R. Sareen

Relying on a wide range of archival material, the author draws our attention in this thoughtful book to the lesser known yet rich historical dimension of India–Japan relations. He investigates...

Arvind Gupta |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

Peace is not possible and war is not an option! Should we still be ‘talking up’ non-traditional security?

Three verities appear to underwrite contemporary environmentalism. We live in an interdependent world. The earth is fragile. And good science is our best bet to ‘save’ the planet. When strung...

Rohan D’Souza |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

Chanakya: An Empiricist as a Philosopher

At the outset, it is important to put on record the epistemological root of the reading of Chanakya’s Arthashastra applicable to this commentary. The main text is from the translated...

Water Issues in the Near East and South Asia Region: Risks and Solutions

With water concerns growing increasingly urgent, the global community will benefit from a treatment of the lessons learned and best practices in water dispute resolutions and approaches to water management....

Nehru, Patel and China

On November 7, 1950, Vallabhbhai Patel wrote his celebrated letter to Jawaharlal Nehru on India’s China policy. ‘The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intention’,...

Indo–US Cooperation in Countering Cyber Terrorism: Challenges and Limitations

The increasing dependence on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has unleashed a whole new genre of cyber terrorism. Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, online hate propaganda and use of the...

‘Politicised Safeguards’: Iran–IAEA Contentions, Drivers and Policy Implications

This article examines Iranian contentions on three issue areas that exemplify the politicised nature of its interactions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These include access to military facilities,...

China’s Tryst with the IORA: Factoring India and the Indian Ocean

Engaging with a multilateral body requires constructive foreign policy forethought, especially for a country that is not a fully fledged member of that body. China’s overtures to the Indian Ocean...

Domestic Politics of Bangladesh and India–Bangladesh Relations

The foreign policy of a country generally changes incrementally but in the case of Bangladesh it changes dramatically towards India depending upon which political party or alliance is in power....

Anand Kumar |
September 2014 |
Strategic Analysis

The Tamil Nadu Factor in Post-war Sri Lanka: Perspectives of Tamils and Muslims

Growing international concerns about human rights violations in the last phase of the Eelam war and the continued surveillance and intimidation of the Tamils in Sri Lanka have drawn the...

Understanding the Nuclear Aspirations and Behaviour of North Korea and Iran

This article explores the drivers of North Korea and Iran’s nuclear aspirations and behaviour by employing the theoretical prisms of ‘security dilemma’, ‘regional security complex’ (RSC) and ‘social constructivism’. It...