Two Decades of India’s Look East Policy: Partnership for Peace, Progress and Prosperity , by A.N. Ram (ed.) This volume on the Look East Policy (LEP) is well timed. India hosted, on December 20, 2012, a Commemorative Summit to mark the two decades of partnership between India and the ASEAN and the completion of the first decade of their summit-level dialogue. A veritable practitioners' account, the volume has contributions from distinguished diplomats, journalists and academicians who have been either participants or ringside observers of a highly successful foreign policy initiative. Yogendra Kumar | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Majoritarian State and the Marginalised Minorities: The Hindus in Bangladesh The problem confronting the Hindu minority in Bangladesh is analysed in this article within the framework of a majoritarian state, which embodies the socio-cultural ethos of the majority community in its effort to establish itself as a nation state with a unique history. Such a state by its very nature marginalises the minorities, who are considered unequal in the construction of the ‘nation state’ narrative even though constitutionally they enjoy equality as citizens. Smruti S. Pattanaik | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government’s White Paper, Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia’s National Security As Asia rises and the centre of gravity of strategic affairs shifts to the Asia Pacific, the Australian government is getting ready to exploit new opportunities and gear up to face new risks to its security. Until the beginning of this century, Australia's approach was to insulate itself from Asia and have minimal interaction with it. Asia was seen as a poor, troublesome and problematic region. Australia was firmly anchored in the Western alliance system. Arvind Gupta | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Trilateral Security Cooperation: Nepal’s New Foreign Policy Nepal's King Prithvi Narayan Shah's famous ‘Yam between two boulders’ quote reflects the great understanding of Nepal's security dilemma, even as far back as the 18th century. 1 This has remained a cornerstone of Nepal's foreign policy to date, primarily driven by Nepal's geographic location. 2 Shah understood well that Nepal would always remain insecure vis-à-vis its powerful neighbours, that is, China and India, and urged the need to keep refining, adapting and adjusting Nepal's foreign policy in order to deal with its powerful regional neighbours. Rohit Karki | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty and Resource Governance in the Arctic While oil and gas industries are already well established in Siberia and Alaska, the melting of the Arctic ice cap is opening up new areas of the High North to hydrocarbon exploration. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Arctic is expected to hold about 22 per cent of the world's undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil and natural gas resources (about 13 per cent of undiscovered oil reserves, 30 per cent of natural gas, and 20 per cent of natural gas liquids). Åshild Kolås | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
How will India Respond to Civil War in Pakistan? In 1971, India intervened militarily on behalf of Bengalis in the civil war in East Pakistan, dividing the country into two. The prospect of another civil war in Pakistan pitting radical Islamists against the secular but authoritarian military raises questions about the possibility, timing, objective, and nature of another Indian intervention. Sunil Dasgupta | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Sailing through the Northern Sea Route: Opportunities and Challenges Because of global warming, the thinning ice in the Arctic is opening up the region for navigation for a few months in the summer season. The Arctic littoral countries (Canada, Norway, Denmark [Greenland], Russia and the United States), shipping companies and several other stakeholders (the EU and Asian countries such as China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea) are closely tracking shipping related developments in the Arctic and developing strategies to exploit the Northern Sea Route (NSR). V Sakhuja | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Future of Golden BRICS With the successful holding of the fifth summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in Durban during March 26–27, 2013, this influential group of emerging economies completed its first important phase of genesis and evolution. The idea was floated in 2001 as an ‘acronym’ created by an investment banker of Goldman Sachs, Jim O'Neil who believed that the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, China and India would be the single greatest game changers in coming times. Swaran Singh | July 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Security Situation in J&K: A Reality Check The June 24 ambush in J&K accomplished with proficiency and high level of coordination exposes the deceptive calm often showcased in the context of large number of tourists visiting the state. Vivek Chadha | June 28, 2013 | IDSA Comments
Making Sense of the Rouhani Presidency The elections in Iran defied most prediction but the Rouhani Presidency is unlikely to see any major changes expect possibly for a change of nuance. R. S. Kalha | June 28, 2013 | IDSA Comments
