Strategic Analysis

Chasing The Dragon: Will India Catch Up With China? by Mohan Guruswamy and Zorawar Daulet Singh

Chasing The Dragon: Will India Catch Up With China? by Mohan Guruswamy and Zorawar Daulet Singh
Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt Ltd., 2009, pp. 188, Rs 650, ISBN 978-8131724118

Inside Defense: Understanding the US Military in the 21st Century by Derek S. Reveron and Judith Hicks Stiehm (eds)

Inside Defense: Understanding the US Military in the 21st Century by Derek S. Reveron and Judith Hicks Stiehm (eds)
Palgrave and Macmillan, 2008, pp. 292, $95, ISBN 978-0230602601

Chinese Foreign Policy: An Introduction by Marc Lanteigne

Chinese Foreign Policy: An Introduction by Marc Lanteigne
Routledge, London, 2009, pp. xii + 163, $39.95, ISBN 9780415465236

Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia by Ali Riaz

Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia by Ali Riaz
Rutgers University Press, NJ, 2008, pp. 320, $59.95, ISBN 975-0813543459

Changing World Order: India, EU and US—A Trialogue by B. Krishnamurthy and Geetha Ganapathy-Doré

Changing World Order: India, EU and US—A Trialogue by B. Krishnamurthy and Geetha Ganapathy-Doré
Shipra Publications, New Delhi, 2009, pp. 342, Rs. 950, ISBN 9788175415355

Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment, Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904 by Gordon T. Stewart

Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment, Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904 by Gordon T. Stewart
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 280, $33, ISBN 978-0521735681

Bhabha’s Relevance to India

Bhabha and his Magnificent Obsessions by G. Venkataraman
University Press, Hyderabad, India, first printed 1994, reprinted 1997, 2004, 2005, 2009 (twice), pp. 206, Rs. 200, ISBN 978-8173710070

Research and Think Tanks

Zina O'Leary, The Essential Guide to Doing Research, Vistas Publications, New Delhi, 2005, pp. 226, Rs 350

Nicholas Walliman, Your Research Project: A Step-by-step Guide for First-time Researchers, 2nd ed., Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2005, pp. 450, Rs 560

Clive Opie (ed.), Doing Educational Research: A Guide for First Time Researchers, Vistaar Publishers, New Delhi, 2004 (originally published Sage, London, 2004), pp. 244, Rs 340

Japan’s Nuclear Policy at Crossroads

The emerging changes in the security calculus within the Korean Peninsula are forcing Japan to revisit its existing position on the nuclear issue. The changing security environment has triggered several debates within Japan on the nuclearisation of the island nation. Although, at present, domestic opinion within Japan is opposed to exercising the nuclear option, there has been a break in the hitherto established taboo to have an open debate on the country's nuclear policy.

The Uyghur Question in Contemporary China

This article examines the policies the Chinese state has taken towards the Uyghur Muslim community in Xinjiang since the Cultural Revolution and tries to analyse to what extent have these changed with time. The article argues that the Uyghur community has been seen as a threat to the stability of the state, which is why harsh measures have been directed towards this ethnic group. The party has tried to maintain control over these groups by force by attempting to confine all forms of religious activity and by suppressing any independent body.

India and Gulf Cooperation Council: Time to Look Beyond Business

India's relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been primarily based on mutual trade and business. GCC countries are the main source of energy for India and a market for Indian commodities. India's five-million-strong workforce forms a natural linkage between India and the GCC. But despite such strong trade linkages, which are still growing, political and strategic relations between India and the GCC have been found lacking. Recent years have witnessed signing of defence and security agreements between India and some of the GCC countries.

Climate Change and Foreign Policy: The UK Case

Climate change has acquired high priority in the United Kingdom's foreign policy. It has in recent years raised the issue of climate change at various international forums, such as G-8, the European Union and the UN Security Council. This article examines how and why climate change has become one of the core components of UK foreign policy, and in so doing analyses the interconnections between foreign policy and climate change, and interactions between domestic and international politics.

India’s Nuclear Command and Control: Perspectives from Organisation Theory

Command and control of nuclear weapons was the edifice upon which great power nuclear strategy was based. Empirical Cold War research later proved that this edifice was, in fact, only a power keg. Therefore, US non-proliferation-minded analysts propounded logical reasons for their claim that new nuclear nations will be unable to demonstrate prudence in nuclear weapons management. The unique Indian case, pronounced from the organisation theory perspective, proves to the contrary.

An Indian Perspective on United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)

AFRICOM is a new institution representing the new manner of US engagement. This is different from the EU model of engagement and comes at a time when India and China are seen as important partners of Africa. This paper is written to provide an insight into AFRICOM from an Indian perspective of Africa. This differs from the EU view and also from Africa's own response. US policy towards Africa consists of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) + AFRICOM; whereas AGOA is better understood, AFRICOM is not. This paper proposes to fill some of the gaps in its understanding.

India’s Diplomatic Infrastructure and Software: Challenges for the 21st Century

Obama’s Policy towards East Asia

President Barack Obama's foreign policy orientation towards East Asia seems to be characterised by continuity rather than change, and is not so very different from that of his predecessors. With Japan and South Korea, Obama is trying to revitalise bilateral alliances. With China, he continues on his predecessor's policy of greater engagement, though he has offered some concessions during his visit to Beijing in November 2009. However, North Korea remains a real and huge challenge for Obama to test his engagement in East Asia.

Pranamita Baruah , Rajaram Panda , Shamshad A. Khan |
May 2010 |
Strategic Analysis

Constitutional Impasse in Gilgit-Baltistan (Jammu and Kashmir): The Fallout

The legal status of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is part of Jammu and Kashmir that is under Pakistani occupation, has remained undefined in successive Pakistani constitutions. Pakistan governs the region with ad hoc presidential ordinances, resulting in transitory political arrangements. It was Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who first introduced the so-called Northern Areas Governance Order of 1994, after shelving the draconian and inhumane Frontier Crimes Regulation, with which Pakistan ruled the region like a colony.

India–Bhutan Relations: From Developmental Cooperation to Strategic Partnership

The India–Bhutan relationship is perhaps the only bilateral engagement in South Asia, yielding high dividends to both parties. While Bhutan all through the years has appreciated India for its economic assistance, India, for its part, has been sensitive to Bhutan's developmental needs. The relationship has helped Bhutan shape a unique developmental trajectory based on gross national happiness. Bhutan's economy has grown substantially in recent years. However, the development cooperation between the two countries can be effectively divided into three significant waves.

India and Bangladesh: The Road Towards Common Peace and Prosperity

After a hiatus, relations between India and Bangladesh are back on track again. This period was ushered in with the Awami League government assuming power in Dhaka after the culmination of the much delayed ninth Jatiya Sangsad elections. The bilateral relations received a further boost with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day visit to India on January 10, 2010. It was breakthrough visit for a number of reasons.

India and the NPT

India's nuclear development has been accompanied by a dual track strategy of developing and building weapons while criticising the non-proliferation regime as discriminatory and simultaneously making public statements and proposals in favour of nuclear disarmament. But with international progress likely on aspects of nuclear disarmament over the next few months, India will be in the spotlight at the forthcoming 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to help move the disarmament and non-proliferation agenda forward.