Mitigating Fear and Regaining Trust: How to Understand China’s Response to COVID-19 Introduction There is a long history of human fears toward infectious disease and it doesn’t necessarily disappear with the development of medical science. The ancestral fear toward infectious diseases plays… Continue reading Mitigating Fear and Regaining Trust: How to Understand China’s Response to COVID-19 XIE Chao January-June 2020 CBW Magazine
Italy’s COVID-19 Crisis and Response After eight weeks of lockdown, Italy has gradually started to reopen. Positive cases and death numbers have begun to decline, albeit slowly, and caution, social-distancing, patience, and perseverance will still… Continue reading Italy’s COVID-19 Crisis and Response Chiara De Cuia January-June 2020 CBW Magazine
The Indian Military and Social Change Over the years, the Indian Army has been engaged in two important roles: external defence and the maintenance of internal security. As the Army’s emphasis has shifted from the latter to the former its structure and organization has changed; for structure and strategic role are immutably interlinked. New equipment has made the army more mobile, it is stationed primarily in forward positions, and recruitment is no longer based upon political loyalty. Stephen P. Cohen January 2020 Strategic Analysis
In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba The basic goal of states in an anarchical international system is survival. One of the best ways to ensure survival is to maximize security through self-help. States engage in self-help in a panoply of ways, like military modernization and arms build-ups. Pakistan’s collaboration with the menagerie of non-state actors can be seen as a self-help strategy for countering a conventionally superior India, while at the same time pursuing vital domestic and foreign security objectives. Syed Eesar Mehdi January 2020 Strategic Analysis
Active Defense: China’s Military Strategy since 1949 The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has undertaken its most elaborate reforms since the past 30 years under President Xi Jinping. The current PLA restructuring since 2016 aligns with China’s broader regional and global interests. President Xi has set 2020 as the deadline for the PLA to achieve mechanization, 2035 for informatisation and 2049 to make the PLA into a world-class army. Just a year before PLA’s first deadline, M. Taylor Fravel’s book Active Defense is a timely intervention to understand China’s changing military approaches and strategies. Suyash Desai January 2020 Strategic Analysis
By More than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia-Pacific since 1783 In the ascription of causality in international relations (IR), there is either deliberate action or historical contingency. Historical contingency is an element that cannot be accounted for; however, deliberate action is accounted for and ascribed to planning or strategy. Even with strategically planned deliberate action, there is an element of uncertainty of whether the intended effect will be achieved or not. This is due to intended effects of strategy being mediated by situational variables and contingencies. These characteristics form the underlying implicit nature of strategy. Abhishank Mishra January 2020 Strategic Analysis
Kautilya and Non-Western IR theory Kautilya’s Arthashastra, after its rediscovery in 1905, became an important reference point for the nationalist discourse in India. The treatise, with its foundational roots in the third-century BCE, helped the nationalists discover self-esteem and confidence. It was instrumental in breaking the mental barriers forged by the colonialist discourse that instilled an intellectual and political inferiority among Indians. Arthashastra, though set in different time and socio-political context, became a proof of India’s glorious but forgotten tradition of political and economic thought. Deepshikha Shahi January 2020 Strategic Analysis
Pakistan’s US $ 6 Billion EFF Arrangement with IMF Over the past year i.e. 2018–2019, Pakistan has been facing challenging macro-economic conditions that include a ballooning fiscal imbalance and a weak external position with gross reserves at $8 billion, equal to 1.7 months of imports. On June 19, 2019, Reza Baqir, the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan wrote to the Managing Director of the IMF, seeking assistance under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), on grounds that Pakistan’s international reserves had touched critically low levels with a large balance of payments gap, in an environment of limited market access. V. Srinivas January 2020 Strategic Analysis
A Comparison of Defence Sector Innovation Ecosystems in China and India The defence sector in all major countries has historically been a source of new technologies and innovation. As China and India grow in stature, the strengths of their defence sector ecosystems and the ability to innovate become areas of focus for policymakers. Since defence deals with the security of a nation, all defence ecosystems have some element of government leadership, direction and ownership. Against this must be balanced the need to ensure efficiencies and competitive capabilities, which requires entrepreneurship, private sector companies and the market mechanism. Murli Murti January 2020 Strategic Analysis
India in Vietnam’s Foreign Policy The upgrading of Vietnam–India relations from partnership (2003) to strategic partnership (2007) and a comprehensive strategic partnership (2016) is not merely the result of India’s Look/Act East Policy. It also reflects Vietnam’s high appreciation of the Indian factor in its foreign policy since the Southeast Asian country promoted multilateralism and diversification in its international relations. Vo Xuan Vinh January 2020 Strategic Analysis
