Strategic Analysis

The United Nations (UN) peacekeeping ‘Capstone doctrine’ is the first attempt by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations/Department of Field Support (DPKO/DFS) to formulate a coherent doctrine for peacekeeping/peacebuilding missions beyond Boutros-Ghali’s An Agenda for Peace and the Brahimi Report, which set out a very general approach as opposed to a doctrinal mandate. In the document, the UN lays down a framework for approaching peace operations, and also defines contemporary UN peacekeeping operations.

• Brent Thomas Gerchicoff
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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This article seeks to make a preliminary assessment of the surrender and rehabilitation policy being adopted towards Naxalites. The examples/experiences cited in this paper refer largely to cadres and leaders of Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist). It is part of a multi-pronged conflict management and resolution strategy and is required to be implemented along with firm action by police against those who follow the path of violence.

• P. V. Ramana
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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In Afghanistan, the third Great Game is still on. The end of US–NATO combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 will be read by many as ‘Obama’s Vietnam’, but the retention of a small number of troops and several military facilities by the US in that country will be a source of worry for countries such as Russia, Iran and Pakistan who are concerned about US motives and moves in regard to the region, especially Central Asia’s energy resources which are already a target of international competition.

• J.K. Baral
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The G8, Pakistan and the Pacific island states have pushed for a discussion in the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the security dimensions of climate change. As the issue gains momentum at the global and regional levels, India as an emerging power that continues to use energy and other natural resources, at the cost of stressing other countries, particularly its neighbours, will need to formulate a response.

• Mukul Sanwal
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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On 3 May 2013, Australia’s former Prime Minister Julia Gillard released the Defence White Paper (DWP) 2013, making it the sixth White Paper on defence in the history of Australia, and the third since 2000. The last Defence White Paper, entitled Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030, was released in 2009 when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was serving his first term.

• Rahul Mishra
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The Arctic is beginning to test the stage-managed optics of China and Russia’s ‘strategic partnership’. Friction was most recently on display after the Arctic Council’s May 2013 decision to confer permanent observer status on Beijing. The Chinese media celebrated the move as an affirmation of the nation’s ‘legitimate rights’ in Arctic affairs.1 Russian officials were much less enthusiastic.

• Lincoln E. Flake
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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India–US strategic dialogue was initiated in 2009, and is organised annually in different capitals. The first round of dialogue took place against the backdrop of pessimism in the bilateral relationship. For about six months after the new Obama administration was formed, strategists in Delhi were suspicious about the durability of an India–US strategic partnership that had been painstakingly nurtured by President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

• Chintamani Mahapatra
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The May 2013 parliamentary elections in Pakistan led to a stable government under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Prime Minister Sharif promised a shift of the country’s India policy. Given his track record, the current pressing economic and security imperatives and recent improvements in Indo-Pakistan trade relations, the popular optimism is understandable and the first steps of rapprochement are to be expected.

• Ishtiaq Ahmad , Hannes Ebert
• November 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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The book China in and Beyond the Headlines is a collection of 16 contributions written by scholars and experts on various aspects of Chinese politics, society and economy. Considering that China has undergone a major transformation over the past decades since it opened its economy, this book provides a much-needed insight into the contours and extent of these changes and their impact. The most promising aspect of the book is that it provides information and analysis on almost all the aspects of changes within China.

• Gunjan Singh
• September 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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There have been many studies on US foreign policy towards China dwelling specifically on the efficacy of the US strategy of containment. Donald Gross’s book is an addition to this genre. It basically challenges the wisdom of the current US policy of containing China and offers a ‘new paradigm’ for ‘stable peace’ as an alternative approach for dealing with China and yet keeping US dominance in the Asia-Pacific intact. This new paradigm provides for greater cooperation, co-existence and accommodation with the rising dragon to ensure long-term peace in the international system.

• Abanti Bhattacharya
• September 2013 |
• Strategic Analysis
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