Defence Budget 2015-16: The Bad, the Worse and the Good The bad news in this year’s defence budget is that it does not recognise that things are not going in the right direction but only the beaten track. And the poor track record in fully utilising the resources allocated for ‘Modernisation’ is the worse news. Vinay Kaushal | March 02, 2015 | IDSA Comments
The Return of Geopolitics in Europe? Social Mechanisms and Foreign Policy Identity Crises by Stefano Guzzini (ed.) The end of the Cold War was one of the defining moments in Europe’s geopolitical history. The ‘frozen spatiality’ that dominated the geopolitical space of Europe for half a century came undone. The emergence of a new spatial reality brought with it a novelty of issues that had to be dealt with by strategic and political elites and their appendages (academia and media). Their interpretation of the end of the Cold War, and the choices they made, were critical in the evolution of a particular type of geopolitical thought and foreign policy discourse. Nachiket Khadkiwala | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Difficulties of Regional Cooperation for Afghanistan: An Alternative Interpretation This article addresses the question of why regional cooperation among Afghanistan’s neighbours has been so difficult despite these countries’ common concerns. To answer this question, Afghanistan is conceptualised as placed at the core of overlapping regions: South Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and, through China’s influence, East Asia. Over the past decade, interactions among different regions ‘through’ Afghanistan have increased, and overlap has intensified. Sandra Destradi | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Does the Elephant Dance? Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy by David M. Malone In Does the Elephant Dance, David Malone identifies various aspects of Indian history relevant to foreign policy by examining the role of domestic politics and internal and external security challenges. The author specifically analyses domestic and international economic factors. In several chapters, he evaluates India’s policy towards its South Asian neighbours as well as explaining its multilateral diplomacy with respect to China, the US, West Asia, East Asia (India’s ‘Look East’ policy), Europe and Russia. Uma Nabhi | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Russia, Turkey, and Iran: Moving Towards Strategic Synergy in the Middle East? This article aims to delve into the patterns of convergence and divergence of interests among three key regional players in the Middle East: the Russian Federation, Turkey and Iran. Hossein Aghaie Joobani , Mostafa Mousavipour | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Anatomy of Political Atrophy in Thailand With the take-over of power by the military on May 22, 2014, under General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha, the chief of army, Thailand has gone full circle in coup d’états, from democratic deficit to fractious political struggle between different social groups leading to acute and irreconcilable political instability that gives leverage to the army to finally intervene and seize power by suspending the constitutional processes. Democracy in Thailand is not only a recent phenomenon, but is also periodic and short-lived. Baladas Ghoshal | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
India–US Ties: Reviewing the Relationship Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington and a summit meeting with President Barack Obama re-energised a relationship that was widely perceived to be moving towards a dead end. During almost 10 years of Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, India’s relations with the United States held all the promises of becoming robust and a model strategic partnership for international relations. Chintamani Mahapatra | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Israel–Gaza Crisis: Understanding the War Crimes Debate The long conflict between Israel and Palestine took a turn for the worse after the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014. G. Balachandran , Aakriti Sethi | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
The ‘Sir Creek’ Dispute: Contours, Implications and the Way Ahead Sir Creek, the 17th and last drainage branch of the river Indus, is a meandering riverine feature approximately 92 km (50 NM) long in the low-lying marshy region of Rann of Kutch. The Sir Creek boundary dispute between India and Pakistan is rooted in differing interpretations of the 1914 resolution passed by the Government of Bombay (GoB) or Bombay Residency. Raghavendra Mishra | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
Future of India–Nepal Relations: Is China a Factor? Nepal shares an open border of 1,868 km with five Indian states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim) and 1,415 km with Tibet. Under the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India, Nepali citizens enjoy ‘national’ treatment and Nepali businesses unhindered rights of trade, transit and movement. An estimated six million Nepalese live and work in India and contribute to their inward remittances. Social intercourse along the Gangetic plane is described by people as ‘roti-beti ka sambandh’ (a relationship based on sharing of hearth and marriage). Arun Kumar Sahu | March 2015 | Strategic Analysis
