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Bridging the Financing Gap for the SDGs: A Framework for Renewed Action
Economics and Finance | Sustainable Development | Climate Change Aug 05, 2025

Bridging the Financing Gap for the SDGs: A Framework for Renewed Action

The world is off-track in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with financing gaps widening due to geopolitical shifts, rising debt, and the growing impacts of climate change. This brief offers a renewed framework to bridge the SDG financing gaps by strengthening domestic public ...

Pakistan and China’s Collusive Grey-Zone Warfare
International Affairs Aug 01, 2025

Pakistan and China’s Collusive Grey-Zone Warfare

This brief examines the expanding China-Pakistan strategic alliance in the domain of grey-zone warfare, defined as the space between neither full-scale war nor peace. The analysis draws on 4th-century BCE statesman, Kautilya’s concept of Tushnim Yuddha (silent war) to contextualise the grey-zone approach within an ...

Reflections on the First Decade of ‘Startup India’
Developing and Emerging Economies Jul 21, 2025

Reflections on the First Decade of ‘Startup India’

This brief examines the transformative impact of India's ‘Startup India’ initiative, launched in 2016, on the country’s entrepreneurial landscape. Driven by the presence of digital infrastructure and government support, India's startup ecosystem has seen exponential growth in the recent years. Today, the country has some ...

Building Rainwater Resilience in India’s Cities
Urbanisation in India Jul 03, 2025

Building Rainwater Resilience in India’s Cities

Extreme water events are affecting cities in various parts of the world. During rainy seasons or in the event of typhoons or cyclones, the sudden inflows of large volumes of rainwater into cities, combined with inadequate preparedness of administrative agencies, result in injuries, loss of ...

Post-Assad Syria’s Search for Its Place in an Evolving International Order
International Affairs Jul 02, 2025

Post-Assad Syria’s Search for Its Place in an Evolving International Order

Syria has been in turmoil since 2011 when the Arab Spring wave of protests spread across the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region, challenging President Bashar Al Assad’s longstanding, familial rule of the country which began with his father, Hafez Al Assad, who took over in ...

Understanding China’s Engagement with Afghanistan Under Taliban 2.0
International Affairs Jul 01, 2025

Understanding China’s Engagement with Afghanistan Under Taliban 2.0

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is now in its fourth year in power. While no country has yet to officially recognise the Taliban-led regime, many have established some sort of de facto relationship to safeguard their own strategic and security concerns. This brief focuses on ...

Between Engagement and Disengagement: Japan’s Myanmar Recalibration
Neighbourhood Jun 25, 2025

Between Engagement and Disengagement: Japan’s Myanmar Recalibration

Japan’s foreign aid policy towards Myanmar has been an important component of both, its broader approach to Southeast Asia and its Indo-Pacific vision. As one of Myanmar's largest development partners, Japan has consistently supported the country’s infrastructure development and democratic transition efforts, while also providing ...

Cash Transfers as an Instrument for Poverty Alleviation and Women’s Empowerment in India
Gender Jun 24, 2025

Cash Transfers as an Instrument for Poverty Alleviation and Women’s Empowerment in India

Cash transfers are popular globally as an instrument for combating poverty and achieving broader development goals. Both conditional and unconditional cash transfers that target women in low- and middle-income countries can enhance household well-being, food security, education of children, family health, and women’s empowerment. In ...

Beijing’s Middle East Playbook in a Changing Global Order
International Affairs | China Foreign Policy Jun 10, 2025

Beijing’s Middle East Playbook in a Changing Global Order

While Beijing’s foreign policy is not focused on the Middle East, its footprint in the region is expanding. Many of China’s short-term aims, such as securing energy, have remained unchanged since the Cold War, but the country’s rise on the global stage is increasingly creating ...

When The Tables Turn: The Global South in an Era of Instability
International Affairs Jun 09, 2025

When The Tables Turn: The Global South in an Era of Instability

Amidst the fissures in the Transatlantic partnership, heightened United States-China rivalry, and global trade frictions, commentaries of doom and gloom abound. This analysis offers a different perspective. While recognising the risks, it focuses on new opportunities that are emerging for the Global South. The brief ...

Contributors

Amrita Narlikar

Amrita Narlikar

Dr. Amrita Narlikar’s research expertise lies in the areas of international negotiation, World Trade Organization, multilateralism, and India’s foreign policy & strategic thought. Amrita is Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. She is also Honorary Fellow of Darwin College, University ...

Read More + Sanjay Pattanshetty

Sanjay Pattanshetty

Dr. Sanjay M Pattanshetty is Head of theDepartment of Global Health Governance Prasanna School of Public Health Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Manipal Karnataka India. Additionally he has an affiliation with theDepartment of International Health Care and Public Health ...

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