Strategic Materials: A Resource Challenge for India Publisher: Pentagon Press2014 There are a few minerals which are categorized as ‘strategic’ because of their importance for the industries and owing to natural and man-made difficulties in their procurement. There has been an attempt here to contextualize the importance of strategic materials from a national security perspective. This study presents a macro view with regard to India’s strategic minerals architecture and undertakes analysis to understand current and futuristic challenges and opportunities in this sector, and offers a few recommendations based on the assessment undertaken. Issues related to Rare Earth and new materials are also discussed. ISBN 978-81-8274-786-9, Price: ?. 795/- E-copy available Ajey Lele , Parveen Bhardwaj | | Book
Sri Lankan Presidential Elections: India’s Stance It will be in India`s interest to adopt a neutral posture vis-à-vis the contestants in the January 2015 Sri Lankan Presidential elections. Gautam Sen | December 15, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Russia’s Military Cooperation Agreement with Pakistan: An Assessment The military cooperation agreement between Russia and Pakistan raises two pertinent questions: What are the driving factors behind Russia’s Pakistan strategy? And should India be concerned? Rajorshi Roy | December 15, 2014 | IDSA Comments
LUH Acquisition Programme: Which Way is it Headed? It is difficult to visualise how the Russian offer to make LUH in India could be actualised unless the government invokes ‘strategic considerations’ for making it in India or signs an inter-governmental agreement for that purpose. Amit Cowshish | December 15, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Comparing ‘Boko Haram’ and the ‘Islamic State’ Essentially local Islamist extremist groups such as the Boko Haram, which thrive on the domestic social and economic deprivations, seem to be moving towards collaboration with international Islamist groups. This phenomenon is not new, considering the links of Somali groups with the Al-Qaeda. Saurabh Mishra | October-December 2014 | Africa Trends
India-Mozambique Relations: Towards Fresh Opportunities? India's historic ties with Mozambique have got a boost in recent years with several high level visits from the country including that of Mozambican President in 2010 and the Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi in November 2014. These visits are important in terms of India's growing interest in Mozambique's energy sector. Ruchita Beri | October-December 2014 | Africa Trends
Obama’s Policy towards Africa: A Blend of Competition and Roadblocks Much was anticipated from his administration, especially with regard to working more closely with the African continent. But it was only in his second term beginning 2013 that he managed to focus on the African countries by initiating the US-Africa Leaders Summit in August 2014. Aakriti Sethi | October-December 2014 | Africa Trends
Transforming India-Taiwan Relations : New Perspectives Strengthening people-to-people relations is the best way forward for enhancing India-Taiwan relations. The normalisation in the Cross-Strait relations provides an opportunity for India and Taiwan to further deepen their functional ties.In keeping with these ideas, this monograph presents a broad roadmap by retelling the forgotten stories of the past and providing a base for discussing the present and the future. Prashant Kumar Singh | 2014 | Monograph
Cybersecurity: Global, Regional and Domestic Dynamics Governments find themselves struggling to deal with the issue of cybersecurity. Given the current state of play in cybersecurity, it is not surprising that any discussion sooner or later ends up as a confusing mix of viewpoints on fundamental rights, privacy, law enforcement, human rights, globalisation and national security, thus leading to a gridlock. Cherian Samuel | 2014 | Monograph
United States Reforms to Its Higher Defence Organisation: Lessons for India Democracies of the world have many similarities, notwithstanding the differences in the system of governance and the governmental structure. The decision making by the Higher Defence Organisation (HDO) and the government of the United States and India face similar challenges regardless of the threat perception and the role, size and the employment of the military. Rajneesh Singh | 2014 | Monograph
