Strategic Analysis

‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’: A Response

Sujit Dutta's article, ‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’ is a thought-provoking essay. It raises an appropriate and timely debate on a theme that is of vital significance for the...

‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’: A Pakistani Perspective

The debate on giving the People's Republic of China full membership of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is primarily seen in the context of positive and negative...

‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’:A Comment

There is a common tendency among analysts and policy makers to compare SAARC with the EU and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This is not fair. There are...

China in SAARC? Too Early to Worry: A Response to ‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’ by Sujit Dutta

Professor Sujit Dutta's article, ‘China in SAARC? To What Effect?’ has made an excellent case for the desirability of regionalism as it offers public commons to members of such institutions....

China in SAARC? To What Effect?

Over the past few years there has been a move by some of the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to induct China into the...

Pakistan’s Strategic Thinking

The strategic outlook of the political, bureaucratic and military elites in Pakistan was shaped by historical exigencies, geopolitical location, Pakistan's self-perception, and its Islamic credentials. Pakistan's military-dominated leadership formulated strategies...

Securing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

The Andaman and Nicobar islands are of immense strategic significance for India. The geographical configuration and the location of the island chain in the Bay of Bengal safeguards India's eastern...

Piracy in Somalia: Addressing the Root Causes

Rampant piracy off the Somalia coast has brought the strife-ridden country back into attention. Economic hardship, and a deep resentment and anger against foreign exploitation of Somalia's maritime resources, have...

Integrating India with the Global Export Controls System: Challenges Ahead

The rising economic and political profile of India is making it to search for a new pattern of interaction with global forces. India's unique relationship with export controls is passing...

The United States in Central Asia: Reassessing a Challenging Partnership

This article focuses on the evolving place of the US in the Central Asian arena, analysing how US interests have changed in this region since the 1990s. It studies how...

Role of Force in Statecraft: Declining Utility or Inescapable Necessity

Recent debates amongst the strategic community on the utility of force in statecraft have thrown up interesting perspectives that have seldom been debated in India. While great power rivalries, inter-state...

A Founding Era for Combined Maritime Security?

In a nutshell the article posits that American naval power, and thus the United States' ability to police the seas, will continue to decline, and that Washington is attempting to...

Towards a Proactive Military Strategy: ‘Cold Start and Stop’

The article reviews the Cold Start doctrine in light of the limited war doctrine. It argues that the launch of strike corps entails a risk prone war expansion. War termination...

Japan’s New Defence Guidelines: An Analysis

During the entire post-World War II period Japan isolated itself from the ongoing power struggle. Even during the height of the Cold War when its two neighbours – the Soviet...

Afghan Reconciliation Falling Through

Various reports on ‘Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan’ produced by the US Department of Defense, 2010 (in coordination with some other departments) have struggled to paint an optimistic...

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: Ideological But Not Praetorian

The role of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has come under an increasing spotlight in recent years. This scrutiny has intensified in the wake of the controversial June 2009...

India’s Nuclear Energy Programme: Prospects and Challenges

India has announced ambitious plans to expand its nuclear energy programme nearly 15 fold in the next 20 years, from the current 4,500 MWe to about 62,000 MWe by 2032....

Pakistan: Crisis is Inherent

On March 23 every year a ritual is performed in Pakistan: observation of Pakistan Day. Forty-two years ago on this day, the Muslim League, which then was 34 years old,...

Living Weapons: Biological Warfare and International Security by Gregory D. Koblentz

Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 2009, pp. 256, $35, ISBN 978-0-8014-4768-6

Makers of Modern India by Ramchandra Guha

Penguin Viking, New Delhi, 2010, Rs. 799, ISBN 9780670083855