Publication - MP-IDSA

Japan and Australia Deepen Defence Cooperation

Japan and Australia have strengthened their defence partnership, exemplified by the August 2025 US$ 6 billion Mogami-class frigate deal.

Shigeru Ishiba’s Diplomatic Legacy

While Prime Minister Ishiba’s untimely exit marks the return of political instability in Japan, he helped navigate Japan through extreme international uncertainty.

Charlie Kirk’s Killing Bares Rising Extremism in the US Body Politic

Political violence in the US has increased in recent times, with Charlie Kirk’s killing the latest instance of rising extremism in the US body politic.

Small Modular Reactors and India: Institutional Drivers and Challenges

Given India’s future energy demand and need for clean energy, Small Modular Reactors (SMR) are a suitable option.

Niranjan Chandrashekhar Oak , Bhawna Budhwar |
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Issue Brief

North Korea’s Increasing Military Cooperation with Russia: Implications for India

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the military engagement between North Korea and Russia has significantly increased. Apparently, the signing of a ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ agreement with Moscow in June 2024 would further enhance the military capabilities of Pyongyang. On the other hand, India’s diplomatic relationship with North Korea has continued under the ‘Act East Policy’ of the Narendra Modi government. Moreover, in the backdrop of New Delhi’s new strategic alignment in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ with Quad partners, India has not abandoned Pyongyang. However, North Korea’s nuclear proliferation activities with Pakistan has been an issue of deep concern to New Delhi. In this regard, the Russian space, nuclear and military technologies may reach Islamabad through Pyongyang. Russian support to North Korea can also complicate India’s relations with the Quad members as New Delhi has a close partnership with Moscow. Therefore, there can be military and strategic implications for India as a result of the deepening military alliance between North Korea and Russia.

China’s Rising Foreign Ministry: Practices and Representations of Assertive Diplomacy

Foreign ministries play a crucial role in shaping a country’s behaviour on the global stage. As the primary institutions responsible for managing international relations, they engage in diplomacy and develop and implement foreign policies, representing the nation’s interests abroad. Foreign ministries coordinate diplomatic efforts, negotiate treaties, and engage in dialogue with other countries, international organisations and non-state actors. They also analyse global trends and provide strategic advice to government leaders, ensuring that national policies align with international realities. An essential function of foreign ministries is to protect and promote their country’s economic, security and political interests. This involves fostering bilateral and multilateral relations and managing crises, conflicts and peace-building efforts. Foreign ministries maintain direct communication channels through embassies and consulates with foreign governments and citizens, facilitating cultural exchanges and mutual understanding.

Pre-emption, Precision and Perception: Strategic and Doctrinal Lessons for India from Operations Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer

Warfare today is characterised not merely by territory gained or adversaries neutralised, but by the ability to shape perceptions, compress timelines and dominate across multiple domains. Contemporary wars have witnessed a tectonic shift in the goals of war, the rules of war, the players and the instruments of war, reshaping its character and unlimiting its boundaries. It is an era of C5ISR-based saturation stand-off attacks with space-based NPT and AI empowering precision strikes, while quantum communication makes the channels secure. Technology is transforming the character and the future of warfare.

Kautilya’s Arthashastra: The Intellectual Foundations of Ancient Indian Political Thought

The intellectual foundations and the strategic vocabulary of contemporary geopolitical discourse is characterised by two elements—its heavy borrowing from the ancient civilisations of the Near East, Greece, Rome, and even China; and a near complete omission of anything Indian. If the ‘axial age’1 in these geographies represented a critical, reflective turn of transcendental significance to social, political and philosophical affairs, the contemporaneous Indian civilisational experience can offer worthy contributions, in both confirming the universality of strategic traditions abroad and establishing its cultural peculiarity. Perhaps, the most consequential output (from the standpoint of the ancient Indian state and statecraft) of the intense cultural interactions between different philosophical and intellectual traditions in India, emerging since the 6th century BCE, is Kautilya’s Arthashastra—a classic Indian treatise on statecraft.

Multi-Domain Operations: Air Force as the Central Node

The modern battlespace is heavily influenced by technology and it has forced modern militaries to reflect on the question, ‘What comes after Joint.’1 There is growing recognition that in the contemporary operational environment, focus on ‘joint’ is no longer sufficient. The character of warfare has undergone a profound transformation; the modern battlespace has become an intricate, multifaceted environment where success is contingent upon the harmonious orchestration of capabilities spanning diverse operational domains.2 While the term ‘joint’ usually signifies integration at the operational level, ‘multidomain’ aims to achieve integration across all levels—from strategic to tactical.3 Multi-Domain Operations (MDOs) have evolved as a method to integrate and synchronise activities across land, sea, air, space, cyber and information domains to achieve strategic objectives. The ability to seamlessly operate across these domains is crucial for military success in any contemporary and future conflict. This commentary argues that air forces are best suited to play the predominant role in these operations due to their advanced technological capabilities, strategic flexibility, robust command and control structures, and a culture of innovation. The commentary will dwell on these attributes and their implications for MDOs, drawing on historical evidences and will also carry out a comparative analysis with other military branches—namely the army and navy—highlighting the distinct advantages of air force in conduct of MDOs.

Can India and China Break Free from the Triangle of Conflict at the Border?

On 21 October 2024, during a special briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia, India’s Foreign Secretary, Shri Vikram Misri stated, ‘Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in various forums. As a result of these discussions, an agreement has been reached on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India–China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that arose in these areas in 2020’.