Strategic Analysis

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 attention of their co-ethnics across the world. The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which had detached itself from the political events in Sri Lanka after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, has renewed its interest. In the post-war phase, the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils has become an emotive issue.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• September 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The issue of cybersecurity as an issue for international security has captured the attention of policy makers around the world. A 2011 United Nations (UN) assessment found that only 68 of the 193 UN member states had cybersecurity programmes. By 2012, this had increased to 114 countries. Of the nations with cybersecurity programmes, roughly 40 have publicly identified cybersecurity as a military concern in national military strategies or defence white papers.

• James A. Lewis
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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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 to confront with unceasing alarm the rapidity of change threatening to unravel in critical Arab states. However, as events in the region progressed, a pattern emerged to the external responses, one that was as predictive as it was differentiated.

• Melissa Cyrill
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Cyber terrorism is a phenomenon that is gaining more and more attention. One reason for this is the concern that modern information and communications technology may be used in order to harm open societies. This concern also involves actual IT systems and the information generated being targets of advanced attacks. That way functions that are important to society could be affected. The term ‘cyber terrorism’ is complex. This article describes the difference between traditional and cyber terrorism.

• Roland Heickerö
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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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 years while cooperation on truly strategic issues with India is yet to emerge. The core of both these relationships is still economics.

• Gulshan Sachdeva
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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Feroz Hassan Khan’s credentials are high considering that he served with the Pakistan army for 32 years with his last assignment as director of arms control and disarmament affairs in the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), the secretariat of Pakistan’s National Command Authority (NCA). The book under review was not an easy venture, as the author observes: ‘new nuclear states such as India, Israel and Pakistan perforce keep their nuclear programmes opaque to avoid international non-proliferation pressures’ (p. ix).

• Gautam Sen
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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In the last decade, the dynamics of inter-state relations in the Asia Pacific have changed rapidly, largely due to the rise of China. Competition rather than cooperation has become the order of the day. In the East and South China Seas, freedom of navigation, competitive claims over maritime boundaries and air space security are experiencing an evolution of new brinkmanship between the US, an established super power, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), an emerging super power, unfolding new challenges for the other potential regional players including India.

• Arun Kumar Sahu
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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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 certain inherent shortcomings in their approach that are counter-productive to the ongoing and long-term statebuilding and peacebuilding projects in Afghanistan. The following study elucidates some of these shortcomings.

• Srinjoy Bose , Nishank Motwani
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The epistemology of maritime strategic thought is a subject of growing interest and discussion among maritime analysts today. In a world where national interest is increasingly defined by maritime connectivity and overseas influence, nations have been investing considerable military and diplomatic energy in developing a nautical blueprint for future growth. Forging a comprehensive maritime strategy has, however, not been easy as strategic thinking on maritime issues has swung erratically between a rapidly evolving present and a sharply unpredictable future.

• Abhijit Singh
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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• Satish Chandra , Arvind Gupta
• July 2014 |
• Strategic Analysis
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