Asia in international relations: unlearning imperial power relations The discipline of International Relations (IR) is deeply enmeshed in the history, intellectual traditions and agency claims of the West, thus obscuring the contributions from the non-Western world. IR theory fails to take cognisance of the global distribution of the various actors along with their contribution to a heterogeneous and rich discipline. There is a pressing need for a departure from IR’s historic complicity with marginalisation and the silencing of alternative epistemologies, thereby making its process of knowledge production truly global and democratic. Ananya Sharma | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
Gas Pipelines—Politics and Rivalries In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its ‘World Energy Outlook’ said that the world was entering a ‘Golden Age of Gas’. With its lower carbon-emitting properties, gas seemed poised to claim its rightful place in the global energy mix as a bridge between polluting hydrocarbons and green renewables. Moreover, it has all the ingredients to make it as worthy a contender in the energy geopolitical game as did oil a few decades ago. Shebonti Ray Dadwal , Chithra Purushothaman | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
Analysing the Impacts of Drug Trafficking on Human Security in Central Asia The international security environment has undergone many changes since the end of the Cold War. There has been a need to adapt the concept of security with the changing conditions and new security situations emerging in different geopolitical locales of the world. The concept of human security gained currency in the wake of international developments in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War. New security threats were identified by scholars and analysts the world over. There was a shift in the way security was conceptualised, i.e. Hamidreza Azizi | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
China’s Mediation Efforts in the Middle East and North Africa: Constructive Conflict Management Mediation diplomacy has emerged as one of the central pillars of China’s foreign policy objectives and practice, with Beijing deliberately positioning itself as a peacemaker in the MENA region. This study evaluates China’s role as a regional peacemaker by examining Beijing’s growing engagement with bringing about a peaceful resolution to the MENA disputes. Specifically, this study seeks to examine whether or not China’s mediation efforts in the MENA region augur a shift in China’s non-intervention principle and practice. Mordechai Chaziza | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
India’s Bilateral Security Relationship in South Asia The article argues that the contours of a security architecture are becoming slowly visible in South Asia. This process is nurtured by two developments. First, since the 2000s, India has increased its security cooperation with nearly all its neighbours in South Asia. Second, since 2013 governments in New Delhi have promoted the concept of India as a security provider in the region and the Indian Ocean. Christian Wagner | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
India–US Defence Cooperation: Assessing Strategic Imperatives Over the last decade or so, especially during much of Barack Obama’s presidential tenure, the defence sector has become the focus area of cooperation between India and the US. India’s engagement with the US in the area of defence is riding on a new-found realism that drives both countries’ strategic aspirations. Vivek Mishra | January 2018 | Strategic Analysis
Two standoffs and some nuclear lessons The standoffs in Doklam and North Korea offer insights on how crisis stability remains subject to the complexities of deterrence, especially in theatres with multiple nuclear-armed states, and what this entails for disarmament. A. Vinod Kumar | December 29, 2017 | IDSA Comments
Time is ripe to start bilateral talks between the US and North Korea The time is opportune now for the international community to press for the start of bilateral discussions between the US and North Korea leading to the full participation of the UNSC in the final negotiations. G. Balachandran | December 20, 2017 | IDSA Comments
Hypersonic Weapons Hypersonic weapons are weapons that move at speeds of Mach 5 or more. Presently, hypersonic weapon technology is a work in progress and these weapons are yet to become fully operational for military deployment. Ajey Lele | | Occasional Papers
India’s Relations with the Latin America-Caribbean Region: Prospects and Constraints This paper seeks, from a Latin American perspective, to examine India's relations with the Latin America-Caribbean region. It makes a distinction between the hesitant and somewhat apathetic approach of the Indian government towards enhanced ties with the region and the rather more proactive and enthusiastic approach by the Indian business sector which has seen Indian trade with the region growing many fold and increasing at the same rate as China's. Sanjay Badri-Maharaj | | Occasional Papers
