Need for a composite back channel with Pakistan army The absence of a credible interlocutor in Pakistan who can exercise effective control over the Pakistan army leaves India with little choice except to open a parallel dialogue with the military establishment in Pakistan. Sushant Sareen | January 07, 2011 | IDSA Comments
Wen Jiabao’s India visit: A Strategic Review The success of the visit was limited to strengthening links of economic diplomacy between the two Asian giants, ignoring the geo-political and strategic issues that act as de-stabilisers in Sino-Indian relations. Jagannath P. Panda , R N Das , Priyanka Pandit , Vidya Krishnamurty | January 07, 2011 | Issue Brief
The New START, its positives, and the imponderables The durability of the New START will depend largely on how both sides value it as a means towards disarmament rather than for strategic competition. A. Vinod Kumar | January 07, 2011 | IDSA Comments
The US Defence Acquisition System This paper makes an attempt to analyse and evaluate the US Department of Defence Acquisition System by highlighting the relationship of the requirements generation and budgeting process, the key actors, the major phases in an acquisition programme, and the major categories of acquisitions. It argues that the Department of Defence Acquisition System represents an ever evolving system-of-systems that attempts to translate Warfighter requirements into actual developed, purchased and fielded systems. Peter Garretson | January 2011 | Journal of Defence Studies
China’s ‘all-weather friendship’ with Pakistan: Implications for India If the achievements of Premier Wen’s visit to India were more pronounced in terms of economic content, his visit to Pakistan was more characterised by political and strategic significance. R N Das | January 04, 2011 | IDSA Comments
South Korea’s show of force and designation of the North as ‘Enemy’ Soon after naming the North Korean regime as its “enemy”, South Korea has, quite abruptly, invoked the desirability of reverting to the Six-Party Talks. Preeti Nalwa | January 04, 2011 | IDSA Comments
Defence against Terrorist Attacks: Game Theory can Help By postulating that the players think ahead not just to their immediate consequences, but also to the others, game theory can provide a framework to think about defending against terrorist attacks. Sarita Azad | January 03, 2011 | IDSA Comments
A New Phase in India-Sri Lanka Relations The recent increase in top level Indian delegation visits to Colombo indicates that India has entered a new and more comprehensive phase of bilateral relations with Sri Lanka. Hemantha Dayaratne | January 03, 2011 | IDSA Comments
India’s Options in Afghanistan The prognoses that it will be long before Afghanistan will be at peace with itself; that the Taliban have raised the cost of the Afghan war for the West; that the growing differences between the West and Kabul have aggravated the prevailing uncertainty over the future of the war; and that the US-led Afghan mission appears unwinnable are all unexceptionable. Satish Chandra | January 2011 | Strategic Analysis
Socio-Economic Underpinning of Jihadism in Pakistan The rise of the jihadist movement in Pakistan is driven primarily by ideological and religious factors. Decades of indoctrination of a virulent version of radical political Islam has motivated thousands of people—young and old—to take the path of violent jihad to capture political power, and through it, transform the society, economy and culture to bring about what they consider to be a pristine Islamic order. Sushant Sareen | January 2011 | Strategic Analysis
