BRICS-EU: Bilateral Partners and Global Rivals The BRICS group has gone a long way from being the simple acronym to becoming global political player. While it remains undecided whether the BRICS will evolve into a comprehensive, consolidated alliance in global politics, the trend towards increased collaboration and institutionalization now indicates that this may well be feasible. The article examines the relationship between the European Union and BRICS and seeks to understand whether the EU and BRICS are more likely partners or rivals. Elena Maslova , Mark Entin | November 2019 | Strategic Analysis
BRICS: A Limited Role in Transforming the World The emergence of BRICS is a reflection of the economic power shift from the north to the south. BRICS cooperation is driven by their shared identity as emerging economies. BRICS will play a bigger role in reshaping the world economic order through reform of the existing international institutions and within the framework of G20. It is in no way aimed at toppling the existing world order or forming an anti-West bloc. Li Li | November 2019 | Strategic Analysis
Washington’s ‘America First’ Global Strategy and Its Implications for the BRICS The article explores America’s evolving policy towards BRICS in the context of the Trump administration’s new ‘America First’ global strategy. Even though the BRICS grouping has not become an anti-systemic or anti-liberal force, its attempts to form an alternative centre of global power has prompted the US to manage multipolarity. The Trump administration has continued America’s previous policies of hedging potential BRICS consolidation and enhancing its regional engagement in the era of sovereignty revivalism and deglobalisation. Vitaly Kozyrev | November 2019 | Strategic Analysis
Shifting Strategic Focus of BRICS and Great Power Competition This article builds on extensive debates on the role of BRICS in world order. But instead of focusing on BRICS’ impact on the world order, the article takes a different methodological approach. It traces how much the evolution of BRICS’ rational was prompted by changes of the international system and Russia’s and China’s grand strategies. The key finding is that the BRICS does not determine major world developments, but acclimatizes to the evolving international situation. Igor Denisov , Andrei Kazantsev , Fyodor Lukyanov , Ivan Safranchuk | November 2019 | Strategic Analysis
BRICS in the Post-Liberal World Order: A New Agenda for Cooperation? Perspectives from South Africa Given complexities currently underpinning multipolar realities of the international system, it seems that a pluralist internationalism is becoming a strategic consideration for a post-Western world order. This warrants new agendas for cooperation. Based on the latter this analysis examines to what extent the BRICS can articulate such a new agenda based on a South African-informed perspective. This involves exploring the basis of a BRICS-African agenda competing with the geo-political interests of sub-groupings such as the SCO, RIC, and the EAEU. Francis A. Kornegay , Sanusha Naidu | November 2019 | Strategic Analysis
Aircraft Carriers – The Keystone to India’s Maritime Security Considering the wide expanse to be covered on both sides of the Indian Peninsula, and the possibility of concurrent operations on either side, it is imperative that India maintains an operational carrier battle group on both sides, and at all times. Roby Thomas | October 30, 2019 | Issue Brief
Make-II: Need to Prevent Duplication of Efforts and Backdoor Entry of Import The government’s decision to allow the private sector to undertake the development of complex defence equipment is a step in the right direction. It will help forge a larger innovation system to meet the diverse requirements of national security. However, caution may be required to avoid duplication of efforts and prevent indirect import. Laxman Kumar Behera | October 23, 2019 | IDSA Comments
Cooperative Security in South Asia: A Mirage? South Asia has a common history and celebrates its great cultural and linguistic overlap. However, the South Asian experience in building cooperative security architecture has been mixed. India on its part remains committed to strengthening cooperative security in the region. Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy | October 23, 2019 | IDSA Comments
A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Traditional Peace Operations Despite decades of experience in peace operations, most United Nations (UN) operations have faced serious criticism for being unable to implement the mandate. At the same time, while the UN is in the process of establishing a clear framework for performance evaluation, as of now, there are no standard criteria to judge the performance of a peace operation. Therefore, it will be unfair to make only the peace operation missions accountable because of their inability to implement the mandate. A.K. Bardalai | October-December 2019 | Journal of Defence Studies
Is Imran Khan’s Luck Running Out? With a failing foreign policy and a crippling economy, and growing domestic opposition as well as criticism within the army, Imran Khan and his government is clearly caught between the devil and the deep sea. Zainab Akhter | October 17, 2019 | IDSA Comments
