Gilgit Baltistan: Neither ‘in’ Pakistan Nor ‘of’ it? Pakistan has failed to address the aspirations of the people under subjugation in PoK leading to frequent political outbursts as being witnessed now, outbursts that are only likely to grow given Pakistan’s indifference towards the region as well as its internal security dynamics and external preoccupations. Priyanka Singh | March 06, 2012 | IDSA Comments
A Critique of MoD’s Joint Venture Guidelines The intention of the JV guidelines notwithstanding, the policy document suffers from certain weaknesses which may impact its objective of enhancing national defence industrial capability. Laxman Kumar Behera | March 05, 2012 | IDSA Comments
A Critique of MoD’s Joint Venture Guidelines The intention of the JV guidelines notwithstanding, the policy document suffers from certain weaknesses which may impact its objective of enhancing national defence industrial capability. Laxman Kumar Behera | March 05, 2012 | IDSA Comments
Political Integration of Northeast India: A Historical Analysis Most nation-states in Asia and Africa that gained independence from colonial rulers during the middle of the 20th century are diverse in their ethnic composition. The national governments make efforts to politically integrate their constituent units in the face of the continuing resistance of several ethnic groups. India adopted various means to integrate the more than 600 princely states and other loosely administered areas. Thongkholal Haokip | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Iran’s Influence: A Religious-Political State and Society in Its Region by Elaheh Rostami-Povey Elaheh Rostami-Povey focuses on the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the speedy consolidation of the Islamic Republic. She argues that the Islamic Revolution did not dismantle history and progress within Iran. Rather, it provided an opportunity to form progressive grassroots movements to resist the highly autocratic and repressive nature of the Iranian state. Rostami-Povey tries to discover the links between Iran's internal political development and Islamist ideology and their connection with its mostly regional but also worldwide role. M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Somali Piracy: A Form of Economic Terrorism Piracy over the years has been driven by geography, political instability and the availability of safe havens. Apart from these established factors, economics too play a role. This article reviews and examines Somali piracy, which has flourished due to the international community ignoring the growing instability in Somalia, the rampant illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping. It examines the international response, the legal and economic factors and advocates that piracy be viewed as a form of economic terrorism and be combatted as such, as well as by land-based operations. Sarabjeet Singh Parmar | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
US Foreign Policy Today: American Renewal? by Steven W. Hook and James M. Scott President Barack Obama entered office in January 2009 with a plateful of domestic and international challenges. The worst economic recession in decades, a financial system teetering on the brink of collapse, two increasingly costly and unpopular overseas wars, festering nuclear tensions with Iran and North Korea, isolation and distrust from the international community and the threat of international terrorism were some of the challenges Obama inherited from his predecessor, George W. Bush. US Foreign Policy Today: American Renewal?, edited by Steven W. Hook and James M. Saroj Bishoyi | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
Chinese Engagement with the Maldives: Impact on Security Environment in the Indian Ocean Region This article explores the objectives of China's engagement in the Maldives and how the current administration of the country is responding to it. The article also looks at how the Maldives has been used by major powers in the past. On the basis of these analyses, it envisages the path that Maldivian foreign policy is likely to follow in the future and its likely impact on the security environment in the Indian Ocean region. Anand Kumar | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
The US–India Nuclear Pact: Policy, Process and Great Power Politics by Harsh V. Pant The Indo-US nuclear deal not only opened the gates of international nuclear trade for India, but it also showed that India was ready to take its rightful place among the comity of nations as an emerging power. For three long years from 2005 to 2008, the world's strongest and largest democracies were involved in intense diplomatic parleys. At stake in these negotiations was not only the normative order in the form of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), but also the very existence of the ruling political dispensation in India. Yogesh Joshi | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
The Role of the National Solar Mission in Climate Change Mitigation and the Twin Objective of Energy Security This article outlines the National Solar Mission's role as India's major climate change mitigation policy, arguing that India's National Solar Mission (NSM) was initially conceived to bolster India's position against legally binding commitments on carbon emissions. However, the NSM also has twin objectives in energy security. Progress in the NSM is outlined before its problems are examined in order to clarify how the Indian government may direct its development to fulfil energy security and energy access goals. Nigel Singh | March 2012 | Strategic Analysis
