Strategic Analysis

Turkey, Islamic Politics and the ‘Turkish Model’

In more than three decades, ever since the Islamic-oriented National Order Party was formed in 1969, Turkish politics has been analysed by many in terms of two straitjacketed views: Islamists...

Mehmet Ozkan |
September 2013 |
Strategic Analysis

India’s Maritime Diplomacy in Southeast Asia: An Assessment of the INS Sudarshini Expedition

INS Sudarshini, India’s Sail Training Ship (STS), was sent on a commemorative expedition to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries for six months along the monsoon...

Rahul Mishra |
September 2013 |
Strategic Analysis

Overcoming the Ways of Matsya Nyaya

Ancient Indian political thought as given in the niti (moral law) lays down that matsya nyaya (big fish swallowing the smaller fish), which is a law of nature, must be...

P. K. Gautam |
September 2013 |
Strategic Analysis

Political Economy of Madrassa Education in Bangladesh: Genesis, Growth and Impact , by Abu Barkat, Rowshan Ara, M. Taheruddin, Farid M. Zahid and Md. Badiuzzaman

Madrassas in Bangladesh have seen a rapid increase in their number in recent years. As per 2008 estimates, 9,827,742 students were enrolled in 54,130 Madrassas in the country. That meant...

Fundamentalism: Prophecy and Protest in the Age of Globalisation by Torkel Brekke

The book is based on the premise that ‘fundamentalism’ that gives an impression of antiquity is a modern phenomenon and ‘relatively a recent thing’ (p. 17). It explains fundamentalism as...

The Prabhakaran Saga: The Rise and Fall of an Eelam Warrior , by S. Murari

V.Prabhakaran, the man who took up arms at the age of 17 and led one of the world's most ruthless terrorist organisations to realise the dream of the Tamil Eelam,...

Saudi Arabia on the Edge: the Uncertain Future of an American Ally by Thomas W. Lippman

Saudi Arabia is a country the West loves and hates simultaneously. Often termed a ‘mysterious land’, Westerners largely view Saudi Arabia as a country ‘defined by oil, terrorism and veiled...

Two Decades of India’s Look East Policy: Partnership for Peace, Progress and Prosperity , by A.N. Ram (ed.)

This volume on the Look East Policy (LEP) is well timed. India hosted, on December 20, 2012, a Commemorative Summit to mark the two decades of partnership between India and...

Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government’s White Paper, Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia’s National Security

As Asia rises and the centre of gravity of strategic affairs shifts to the Asia Pacific, the Australian government is getting ready to exploit new opportunities and gear up to...

Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty and Resource Governance in the Arctic

While oil and gas industries are already well established in Siberia and Alaska, the melting of the Arctic ice cap is opening up new areas of the High North to...

Sailing through the Northern Sea Route: Opportunities and Challenges

Because of global warming, the thinning ice in the Arctic is opening up the region for navigation for a few months in the summer season. The Arctic littoral countries (Canada,...

Sovereignty is the Key to Russia’s Arctic Policy

It was the privately-sponsored Russian expedition to the North Pole in August 2007 that opened a new competitive era in Arctic geopolitics, and the technologically elegant PR-trick with planting the...

The Barents Cooperation: Region-Building and New Security Challenges

The Barents Euro–Arctic Region (BEAR), which in terms of land territory is one of the biggest international region-building projects in Europe, was established in 1993 to meet the new security...

The Arctic: Potential for Conflict amidst Cooperation

Changes in the Arctic topography due to climate change have resulted in the region, which erstwhile was remote with little accessibility, to being accessible with potential natural resources and attractive...

The Promise of Involvement: Asia in the Arctic

In late 2012, the first liquefied natural gas tanker to sail through the Northern Sea Route reached its destination in Japan, carrying gas from a Euro–Arctic offshore field. Only months...

Reincarnation Under Stress: The Dalai Lama’s Succession and India–China Relations

The article seeks to assess the evolution of the Tibet question against the backdrop of the problems associated with the succession of the Dalai Lama. It also discusses the implications...

Left-Wing Extremism and Counterinsurgency in India: The ‘Andhra Model’

India has a long history of left-wing extremism. The largest and most powerful left-wing extremist group today is the Communist Party of India (CPI) (Maoist), which is active in many...

Defence Offsets: A System-Level View

How effective are offsets as a means to boost a domestic defence industry? This article takes a novel approach to answering this question; examining global data on levels of defence...

Majoritarian State and the Marginalised Minorities: The Hindus in Bangladesh

The problem confronting the Hindu minority in Bangladesh is analysed in this article within the framework of a majoritarian state, which embodies the socio-cultural ethos of the majority community in...

Trilateral Security Cooperation: Nepal’s New Foreign Policy

Nepal's King Prithvi Narayan Shah's famous ‘Yam between two boulders’ quote reflects the great understanding of Nepal's security dilemma, even as far back as the 18th century. 1 This has...