246 results found
There is only one way in which Pakistan can survive as a nation-state. That is, the Pakistan Army will have to confine itself to being an armed force and not usurp the powers and responsibilities of the legislature and executive branch of the government. The mission objective of an armed force is to safeguard the integrity and sovereignty of the country and not run it. The people of Pakistan have a choice here.
As an increasingly powerful China seeks to reorder Asia, Delhi must firmly locate China's Panchsheel campaign in a clinical assessment of Asia's rapidly evolving geopolitics and its consequences for Indian security. China is doing what rising powers, including the US, have done before. But Delhi appears a long way from developing an appropriate strategy to cope with Asia's new power play.
PM Modi and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visits to PNG reflect the increasing importance of the Pacific Island countries in the strategic
Piracy in the Arabian Sea has been coming dangerously close to the Indian shores. Piracy and sea terrorism also affect the security and commercial interests of major powers like China who seek to ensure continued supply of energy across the Arabian Sea. The pirates collect logistical data and raise funds for Al-Shahbab, in exchange for protection.
It is high time that enlightened Pakistanis realize that the real threat to the existence of the Pakistani state comes from their own army which has usurped authority due to debilitated political institutions and geo-political concerns of western powers.
Conflicts between central banks and governments are embedded in the evolving discourse of every democracy. The recent discord between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is neither the first nor likely to be the last. Institutionally, once a disagreement between the RBI and the MoF crosses the Rubicon, the government has the power to overrule the central bank’s decisions. Moreover, such a structure is not restricte
The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that global health crises are geopolitical events with far-reaching and long-lasting effects across the globe. It creates prodigious disruptions across economic, security, and social sectors, with spillover effects through trade, financial linkages, and tourism, to name the least. This essay argues that as the American-led order in Asia arguably falters, instead of China rushing to fill the post COVID-19 vacuu
The Indo-Pacific region is experiencing profound geo-strategic re-alignments. Post-war norms are being challenged by a rising China that is unconstrained by the established legal, economic and diplomatic order. These changes come at a time of growing uncertainty over US commitments to both its regional allies and a liberal international trade regime. In the absence of American leadership, the only formidable and practical alternative is the emerg
Tensions between government and industry over encryption, vulnerabilities and privacy are now compounded by a geo-technological rupture between the wo
The middle powers are taking the middle path to dealing with the US and China, which may lead to significant challenges if New Delhi chooses to build
In the post-COVID-19 world, relevant middle powers like India with fine negotiating skills and a co-operative attitude will stand out
Reiterating that China should not be contained, Mr. Yukio Okamoto, adviser to former prime ministers, has underlined the need to foster cooperation between Japan and India, including in their efforts to be represented in the United Nation Security Council, with or without the veto powers.
The Rules-Based Order (RBO) underpins the global maritime trading and security system. A subject of growing discussion and debate in strategic studies circles, it is seen by many as a prerequisite for seaborne trade and commerce, and a crucial factor in formulating national security policy. While many Asian powers have a shared understanding of the principles of maritime conduct, regional states have tended to situate the RBO within the framework
Right from 1947, big powers have had their geopolitical interests in South Asia.
This paper looks at debates from the days of the British Raj until now that have shaped India's strategic thought on Afghanistan. It highlights the impact of India's territorial construct on its strategic imagination and argues that India's Afghan policy is determined by its political geography. Afghanistan has proved to be a security lynchpin in South and A Central Asia over the last two decades. Home to a variety of militant networks with regi
The Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) in the Indo-Pacific are a critical enabler of economic development and prosperity in the region but receive little policy attention. In an era of geopolitical contestation, with regional powers reluctant to exert military effort in preserving exclusive access in ‘contested’ spaces, joint military endeavours remain largely confined to non-traditional areas of security. The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukr
Diverging takes on Ukraine and security measures in the region show that diplomacy is the best way forward for the two powers
India and South Korea stand as important middle powers whose influence in the Indo-Pacific region is expanding in their own ways. At the same time, their bilateral partnership today has even bigger potential to serve as a stabilising factor amid shifting regional geopolitical equations. The current year—the 50th since the two countries established formal diplomatic ties—is an opportune moment for harnessing their converging interests. This br
A major reshuffle of the Sri Lankan defence establishment took place last week. General Sarath Fonseka took over as the Chief of Defence Staff, a newly created post, with powers to map out military strategy and planning. Gen.
With the U.S. having shut down one of its major Space situational awareness networks, major Spacefaring powers need to make it a priority to contemplate possible solutions to track satellites and orbital debris on a continued basis.
The drawing up of space strategies by the US, Britain, and China are indicative of the growing space ambition of global powers
Space, as a true global commons, must be protected for safe, secure and uninterrupted access. India and China, along with other Spacefaring powers, must therefore utilise every opportunity to push for developing norms of responsible behavior, including strengthening measures in the area of active debris removal and on-orbit satellite servicing.
There is a growing need for global governance of space technology. India, being one of the earliest and most successful spacefaring states, could play
In working out the constitutional changes in terms of division of powers between the President and Parliament, represented purportedly by the Prime Mi
The country continues to be a prime area of competition for both Asian powers in the South Asia region.
Aside from Afghanistan’s internal crisis, the Taliban also confronts some new strategic challenges.
As a tool of diplomacy, forum summits have allowed countries to interact, exchange views, and work together to cooperate on issues of mutual interest. This is true for the African continent, where there is a recent surge in high-level summits involving heads of state, ministers, and civil society organisations. These ‘Africa+1’ summits have provided countries in the continent with an institutional platform to engage with both traditional and
With the importance of space access growing, there is a clear recognition that both the public and private sector are critical to advancement.
The threat that is pre-eminent today is terrorism. And none of the counter terror efforts will succeed unless global powers deal effectively and consistently with the epicentre of terrorism -- Pakistan.
It would be useful to have spacefaring powers agree upon and comply with a common set of principles.
The global nuclear order is witnessing a revival of overt animosities among key nuclear powers. There is a serious gap in global dialogue between nucl
There are serious concerns about the scope of powers that the Board has been given. Even though the Board’s decisions on individual cases are bindin
Whoever wins the November election, the structural constraints that affect US foreign policy behaviour will remain. China will remain a key rival, rel
As global geopolitics enters a multipolar era, there is a need to assess the extent to which strategic concepts from the bipolar era remain valid and useful. In this brief, the notion of a ‘strategic triangle’, which became prominent during the Cold War, is extended to a ‘great-powers tetrahedron’ for Asia in the 21st century. The brief describes this notion and examines four triangular relationships involving India, China, Russia, and t
Given the dearth of natural resources, all major powers are intensifying their collaboration with African countries and investing in infrastructure an
Would enhancing the police powers of BSF improve border security or would it avert BSF’s attention from its core responsibilities?
As major powers like China are deepening their military ties with the Gulf, the need for India to look beyond the imperatives of energy and maritime security is critical to its interests in Oman and the wider Gulf region.
In West Asia, regional powers increasingly fear that the external dynamics of the regional political landscape coupled with the restive internal dynamics of Turkey, Syria and Iraq could potentially unify fractured Kurdish movements and destabilise the region at large.
Middle powers with multiple partnerships like India can play a big role in the emerging global order
Major global powers like Russia and China and regional powers like Iran are now ready to embrace the Taliban — in their own interest, but ostensibly
A geoeconomics alliance between like-minded nations is already emerging.
Once the US successfully built and used nuclear weapons to devastating effect to end the Second World War, other great powers of the time realized that the acquisition of nuclear weapons was essential to maintain their status. In 1970, after three decades of hectic developments,
‘Neighbourhood diplomacy’ has been prioritised for a long time by China, manifesting in the famous framework that big powers are the key; the peri
The troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir is governed by two controversial laws – the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1990 and its predecessor, the Jammu & Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978. In the past few years, state security forces have been enforcing these two laws against suspected militants and insurgents with increasing severity. This paper argues that the combined enforcement of these two laws has s
As Africa begins to re-emerge as a chessboard for global powers, it is in the mutual interests of Africa and Asia to forge stronger alliances.
Would India be able to keep up its balancing act between the great powers as tensions soar high on the Ukraine front?
By the very nature of the two-decades-old ethnic war and the stalled peace process in Sri Lanka, the week-end LTTE proposals falls short of the doomsdayer¿s predictions. Or, so would it seem. For starters, it confines itself to an interim administration, without formally seeking status and powers of a sovereign State, starting with legitimacy for the LTTE¿s military wing,
With the India–US dynamic and bilateral strategic engagements with West Asian powers increasing significantly, direct policy outcomes will become mo
European powers should seize this break to bring Libya’s almost decade-long tryst with unprecedented violence to an end.
Is the United States using FONOPs to undermine the International Law of the Sea and are other powers such as China following suit?
