Strategic Analysis

Making Sense of Regional Cooperation: SAARC at Twenty

The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) completed two decades of its existence in 2005. Yet it has only made modest progress in achieving its regional goals. The reasons...

Shaping Security in India’s Maritime East: Role of Andaman & Nicobar

Complex and amorphous threats confront India’s security environment in its maritime East. India has very high stakes in the Bay of Bengal and its adjoining seas. The confluence of vital...

China’s Foreign Policy Challenges and Evolving Strategy

The end of the Cold War, the September 11 terrorists’ attacks, preponderance of US power and globalisation have shaped the present world order and posed new opportunities and challenges for...

Domestic Politics in Taiwan and Its Impact on Cross-Strait Relations

Electoral politics in Taiwan reflects the popular ambivalence in articulation of its political and national identity. This ambivalence is testing the strength of nascent domestic democratic institutions. Taiwanese democratisation has...

Sonika Gupta |
January 2006 |
Strategic Analysis

The Future of Euro-Atlantic Institutions

Reinventing the Past

Nepal: The Continuing Imbroglio

The deeply troubling situation in Nepal is marked by three discernible trends. First, is the collapse of the ceasefire and commencement of violent activities, including strikes, blockades and attacks by...

Arun Sahgal |
January 2006 |
Strategic Analysis

Danish Caricatures: Freedom of Provocation

The unprecedented worldwide protests and street demonstrations against the publication of a series of satirical cartoons by a Danish newspaper have become a topic of intense debate over the limits...

Iran’s Nuclear Case and India

Unable to restrain Iran from continuing with its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has turned to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for help....

Missing the Essence of Deterrence

Escalation Control and the Nuclear Option in South Asia Edited by Michael Krepon, Rodney W. Jones, and Ziad Haider The Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington DC, 2004, pp. 166

Pakistan’s at War with Itself

Hassan Abbas Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror M.E. Sharpe, New York, 2005, pp. 275. Husain Haqqani

Railway to Lhasa: An Assessment

On October 12, 2005, China announced the completion of a railway line to Tibet—one of the world’s highest train routes. This railway line climbs 5,072m (16,640ft) above sea level and...

Partnership in a Balance of Power System

The popular perception in India is that with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of one of the two Superpowers, the bipolar international system has become unipolar....

International Nuclear Control Regimes and India’s Participation in Civilian Nuclear Trade: Key Issues

Much of the current debate on India’s decision to evolve a set of agreements with the United States and engage the international nuclear technology control regimes in order to promote...

Indo-US Nuclear Agreement and IAEA Safeguards

Nuclear transfers to a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) are conditioned on IAEA safeguards on all current and future peaceful nuclear activities, what are called the full-scope safeguards (FSS) or comprehensive...

Nuclear Stability, Deterrence and Separation of India’s Civil and Weapon Facilities

The 18 July Bush-Manmohan Agreement is currently being implemented, in bits and pieces. At the time of the signing of the agreement it was stated by different officials that both...

Raja Menon |
October 2005 |
Strategic Analysis

Indo-US Nuclear Deal and Non-Proliferation

Different views have been expressed by the American non-proliferation lobbyists on possible loss or gain from the Indo-US nuclear agreement. Would the agreement complicate global non-proliferation efforts as the critics...

Regime Change in Iraq and Challenges of Political Reconstruction

The developments after 9/11 and the rise of neo-conservative thinking in United States accelerated a process that culminated in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The rapid collapse of...

Defence Budgeting System: Need for Change

In India, the defence budgeting system is incremental and input-based. Yearly allocations of funds are made without reference to the defence plans. In effect, the budget does not get linked...

Pravin Joshi |
October 2005 |
Strategic Analysis

The Political Economy of China’s Defence Modernisation

World over, differences exist about the impact of military expenditure. While development economists consider excessive military expenditure as wastage, many defence economists have a different view. With the defence versus1...

Myanmar: America’s Next Rogue State?

There are embryonic signs that Washington is all set to turn the heat on Myanmar. In a marked departure, UN Security Council unanimously agreed on December 2, 2005 to a...

P. Stobdan |
October 2005 |
Strategic Analysis