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The idea of energy security which was hitherto rooted in the supply and price of oil has now been expanded to include concerns over the availability and trade of coal. The key concern is the demand growth from China and its impact on coal price and availability, given the level of concentration in its sources of supply.

Recent developments suggest a perception in Bhutan that there are limits to which it can depend on India for its security

With roadblocks growing on global and domestic fronts, the China-Pakistan economic relationship needs reassessment

The already deep Sino-Pakistani military and strategic relationship is set to deepen further for myriad reasons.

Under the garb of a trade war, this is a high-stakes strategic conflict between a power which wants to preserve the status quo in its favour and one which wants to usurp that throne.

While West Asia is volatile, the Chinese are beginning to get more active in Afghanistan, retain their pre-eminence in Pakistan and strengthen ties with Iran. In fact, Iran is the third leg of China?s policy in our immediate western neighbourhood. The Chinese are obviously making preparations for the time when peace returns to the Arab world, which might leave a stronger Iran.

The Chinese spy balloons are a deceptively simple aerial surveillance tool that even the US admitted to failing to detect before the recent missile hit. India needs to up its game in this department

The fall in the value of the dollar would be worrying the central bankers in China because the value of their reserves also declines simultaneously. The promotion of the SDR agenda by the Chinese is certainly no coincidence given the position of the dollar today.

The failure of Beijing’s authoritarian approach to covid is a moment to emphasize why democracies meet aspirations better

There is an urgent need for standard operating procedures and open communication, especially when it comes to technology and space.

The scope for cooperation between the Colombo Security Conclave member-states is aligned with the maritime security challenges prevalent in the Bay of Bengal region

Like the LEMOA, there have been heated debates on COMCASA too.

With the US no longer playing the role of security guarantor to Gulf states, they are diversifying their foreign relations through partnerships involving China and Russia, thereby acquiring greater autonomy.

Yemen is the cradle to the Arabs, Iraq their grave. So goes an Arab proverb. Since March 2003 Iraq has certainly been the grave of a great many Arabs ¿ men, women, and children caught in the crossfire of a conflict wantonly unleashed to sustain a misbegotten thesis.

‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ has made a noisy return, especially after the government’s action on Article 370 and Pakistan’s isolation in the international theatre.

In the present crisis in Congo there is a possibility of escalation of violence if Kabila continues to find reasons to postpone elections

The legal systems in India lag when it comes to the fast-adapting formats of radicalisation. Policy can seldom keep up with technology.

The Smart Cities Mission in India, launched in 2015, is a unique experiment undertaken with the aim of improving people’s quality of life in cities. It bypasses traditional institutional approaches and employs innovative methods to achieve its targets. This brief provides an overview of the work initiated under the mission since its inception and explores the gains so far. It documents sectoral reforms and conducts a critical appraisal of the m

The Indian government’s “Smart Cities Mission” aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through “smart” solutions for the delivery of infrastructure and services. This is expected to transform living spaces, enhance quality of life, and provide employment opportunities, in turn helping reduce crime rates and promoting law and order. Among the challenges to the “Smart Cities” programme is terrorism—especially in ur

In different parts of the world, the federal system of government is facing some of its biggest trials yet, from the COVID-19 pandemic. Federalism—which believes in shared sovereignty and territoriality between multiple constituent units of governance—was anticipated to fail against a massive pandemic that needed swift, and presumably centralised, response. This paper examines federal India’s own experience in the past 18 months. The aim is

The Centre has chipped in by banning the export of beef and cows, thereby minimising the incentive for cow slaughter.

This paper seeks to assess the present challenges that exist for South Sudan through an understanding of the historical narrative of the Sudanese state.

Libya, in the throes of a civil war, now represents the ugly facet of the much-hyped Arab Spring. 

Eleven million people in Afghanistan are experiencing food insecurity, and 97 percent of the country’s population are on the brink of universal poverty by mid-2022. Every year, about 250,000 people suffer the devastating impacts of environmental disasters such as floods, droughts, avalanches, landslides, and earthquakes. The circumstances are climacteric, as agriculture is the biggest livelihood provider in the country and influential in its ec

Young people across the world today are facing multiple challenges: lost school years due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns, the looming climate crisis, increasingly dangerous virtual spaces, and food and energy security concerns triggered by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. This paper analyses the challenges facing the youths of the Commonwealth, where 60 percent of the combined population are under 30 years old, and explores the investments require

India and China, the two pillars of the dawning Asian century, are still prisoners to their perceived insecurities and imagined magnificence. They seem condemned to "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity," as one wise man had once remarked. And Mr Manmohan Singh's China visit has added yet another chapter to this narrative.

ISIS, as an ideology and group, has also attracted many crossovers: ideologically radicalised, predominantly youth, leaving behind more regional and hyper-local entities to join ISIS’s brand of pan-globalist jihad is a trend that continues even today.

India is increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks that range from intrusions that affect the integrity of data to large-scale attacks aimed at bringing down critical infrastructure. This vulnerability is largely a function of India's digital economy, which is a "net information exporter" that relies heavily on devices manufactured outside the country. Another complicating factor is the density of India's cyberspace, which does not permit a unifor

Why is it that despite sharing significant commonalities, India and China remain trapped in a relationship that projects them as inevitable rivals? This paper examines the promise of these bilateral relations and attempts to sound the death knell to the old narrative.

Beijing’s behavior, while unsurprising, is only likely to further antagonize its neighbors.

The dark web and terrorism have become closely intertwined, presenting new challenges to existing security frameworks globally. This brief examines the role of the dark web in enabling terrorist activities, from communication and recruitment to radicalisation and propaganda dissemination. It reviews current literature to highlight the ecosystem of the dark web and its ramifications on national security. The analysis describes the strategies adopt

The decline has gone unnoticed because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War

It is hoped that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India not only heightens bilateral relations between the two countries but also benefits the entire region

India and Germany embark on a path of cooperation leading with trade and security

For reasons to do with history and strategy, India will not abandon Russia.

This brief sketches the growing interest of the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the Indian diaspora. Over the last three years, the prime minister has repeatedly called attention to the role that the diaspora will play in India’s development process and in the promotion of its foreign policy goals. The brief gives an overview of the policies that the present government has rolled out and examines the benefits from, and pitf