Strategic Analysis

Examining the Interventionist Logic in the Arab Uprisings

At first glance, there was no coherent regional and international response to the transitions triggered in the Arab world since December 2010 as external players, both regional and international, had...

EU–China and EU–India: A Tale of Two Strategic Partnerships

More than a decade has passed since the European Union (EU) signed strategic partnerships with China (2003) and India (2004). The EU’s ‘honeymoon’ with China was over within a few...

The Limits of ‘Hybrid Governance’ in Afghanistan

The following commentary argues that the strategic and structural solutions proffered by advocates of ‘hybrid’ governance—encompassing elements from distinctly different ideological backgrounds or schools of thought—ignore or fail to address...

Addressing Violent Extremism: Lessons from Sri Lanka

In the years since the hostilities in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, the understandable international focus on the evidence of war crimes by both sides has diverted attention from certain...

Sun Zi and Kautilya: Towards a Comparative Analysis

It may be stated at the outset that this essay is essentially an attempt to identify some critical commonalities in the approaches of Sun Zi and Kautilya, the two profound...

No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn by Charles A. Kupchan

Europe and the US have together dominated the world for over 200 years and have shaped the nature of the modern international order through their power and ideas. But they...

The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat by Vali Nasr

The Dispensable Nation provides a useful critique of the Obama administration. The author, Vali Nasr, analyses Obama’s foreign policy, especially his approach towards regions afflicted by crises, from the volatile...

Facing the Taliban: Experiences of a UN Woman Aid Worker in Taliban Controlled Afghanistan by Anoja Wijeyesekera

This book is based on the four years that Anoja Wijeyesekera, the author, spent in Afghanistan as a UNICEF official (November 1997–September 12, 2001) before she and other UNICEF staff...

Apocalypse Pakistan: An Anatomy of ‘the World’s Most Dangerous Nation’ by Francesca Marino and Beniamino Natale

The current state of Pakistan is messy and full of existential contradictions. The nation was built on a separate Muslim identity and on the pretext that in independent and integrated...

Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics by Arun Vishwanathan and Rajaram Nagappa (Eds.)

The ever dynamic nuclear conundrum of Iran has continued to hog the limelight. Numerous suggestions emanating from varied quarters about how to manage the issue have dominated the ongoing international...

American Strategy in Afghanistan: Dilemmas, Miscalculations and Outcomes

The war on terror, often described as ‘the longest war’ or ‘the wrong war’, is approaching its pinnacle. In this context, 2014 has been the centre of gravity while formulating...

A Reviving Continent?

As a trial ground for humankind’s quest for betterment, India can be reckoned the next frontier. The scale and complexity of India’s problems are every policy maker’s nightmare. For a...

Restrained and Strategically Effective—The 2011 Aerial Campaign over Libya: An Indian Perspective

The winter of 2011 was a dramatic period for air power in Mediterranean Europe and India. Operation Unified Protector (OUP), the successful North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) offensive aerial campaign...

Politics and Perceptions of Indian Aid to Nepal

India has significantly invested in Nepal’s development through economic assistance since 1952. Despite deploying aid to win the hearts and minds of the people of Nepal, India has not entirely...

Issues in the Management of the India–Pakistan International Border

A discordant political relationship, three and a half wars and Pakistan’s material support for secessionist militants in the border states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir compelled India to harden...

Emerging Powers and Global Financial Governance

The traditional mode of governance of national and global monetary and financial markets was obviously too weak and piecemeal to hinder the recurrent outbreak of regional and worldwide crises. The...

Maritime Security Trilateralism: India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives

India has stepped up its efforts to cooperate on security issues in general and on maritime security in particular with its island neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). At...

State, Secularism and Democracy

Democracy has spread spontaneously and swiftly in an area of the world generally thought to be immune to political changes: West Asia and North Africa (WANA). An incident of common...

Northern Provincial Council: What Does it Mean for Tamil Political Aspiration in the Post-War Context?

Elections for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) of Sri Lanka were held on September 21, 25 years after they were first held in 1988 under the Thirteenth Amendment (13A) to...

China Unplugged! Poised to Reshape the Geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific

Within the first year of Xi Jinping’s elevation to the presidency, China has moved further ahead on its path to achieving primacy in the world. In the last week of...