Twenty-First Century Sea Power: Cooperation and Conflict at Sea by Peter Dutton, Robert S. Ross and Oystein Tunsjo (eds.) The volume under review is part of the CASS Series on Naval Policy and History edited by the acclaimed maritime affairs expert Professor Geoffrey Till, and is also the 50th book in the series. Maritime and naval scholarship is a niche area in security and strategic studies and the Cass series is a welcome initiative to address the prevailing sea-blindness and related ignorance in the policy-making circles of the world. C Uday Bhaskar | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
IBSA: Avoiding Being BRICked Up In his opening address at the 2011 India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit held in Pretoria/Tshwane, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa said the essence of the grouping was ‘Back to Basics: When Democracy and Development Work Together for a Better Life’. Elizabeth Sidiropoulos | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Sri Lanka and the Defeat of the LTTE by K.M. de Silva The story of post-colonial Sri Lanka is, in large part, the story of how two groups have interlaced and, in the process, engaged in a 30-year war which saw its end in 2009. In Sri Lanka and the Defeat of the LTTE, K.M. de Silva addresses the history of ethnic tension in Sri Lanka, and presents a case study of the emergence, maturation and eventual collapse of the terrorist organisation the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thiruni Kelegama | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Return of a King by William Dalrymple Imperialism never gives on its own will. The all-season historian, William Dalrymple, echoes this message throughout Return of a King. In comparison to his unwavering research on India, which is submerged in the thickness of the complex historiography, this new book is a rattling good read. The theme of the book gives the average reader a valid reason to come across the parts of ‘research and reference’, which are supported by historical facts rather than facts interwoven with fiction. Atul K. Thakur | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck : Harmony, Random House, New York, 2012, 559 pp., Rs 599, ISBN 978-0-385-34708-2 India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck is an important contribution to the literature on the processes that have contributed to imagining India long before the age of the nation state. Eck traces the ‘prehistory’ of the idea of India, locating it in the geographical nature of Hindu spiritual practice and pilgrimage. Kalathmika Natarajan | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Partition of History in Textbooks in Pakistan: Implications of Selective Memory and Forgetting This article seeks to study the post-partition and especially post-1971 experimentation with history writing in Pakistan and focuses on how the revisiting of the partition has led to a reinvention of history by the selective contraction, misinterpretation and even omission of certain periods believed to be detrimental to the process of nation building in Pakistan. The article seeks to selectively apply the Hegelian approach and make a case for a common history, which it is hoped will facilitate better relations and greater mutual understanding between the nations of the sub-continent. Ashok K. Behuria , Mohammad Shehzad | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Impact of West Bengal Politics on India–Bangladesh Relations It was expected that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in September 2011 would transform India–Bangladesh relations. However, this did not happen as India could not sign the Teesta water sharing agreement, the biggest deliverable of the visit. It also made some people brand West Bengal (Paschimbanga) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a spoiler. Anand Kumar | May 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Lessons from Somdurong Chu Incident Incursions and incidents of escalation are not new to India-China relations. Importantly they have been successfully diffused by a combination of adroit diplomacy, ‘show of force’ and political statesmanship. Mandip Singh | April 26, 2013 | IDSA Comments
LAAD Exhibition: Showcase of Brazilian Self-Reliance Like many other developing counties, Brazil also believes in self-reliance in arms manufacturing and has articulated comprehensive national defence policy with a strong support of its armed forces. There could possibly be some lessons for India. Laxman Kumar Behera | April 25, 2013 | IDSA Comments
China’s Defence White Paper 2013: Lessons for India Struggling to deal with a rigid China on the intractable border issue, India would do well to digest the core assertions of the white paper, including the growing reach of the PLA, its professionalisation, keenness to protect overseas interests, modernisation of the nuclear arsenal, and growing role in foreign policy making. Arvind Gupta | April 25, 2013 | IDSA Comments
