Involvement of Major Powers in Nepal Since the 1990s: Implications for India Nepal being a poor landlocked country with a fragile and unstable political system, major external powers providing aid and assistance to Nepal tend to carry an influence on domestic politics, foreign policy, and the socio-economic agenda of the government. These powers have divergent interests and do not coordinate their policies towards Nepal. While some external forces like the United States and China have hidden political and strategic interests, some others like the European Union are engaged in humanitarian issues. Nihar R. Nayak | January 2009 | Strategic Analysis
China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society Abanti Bhattacharya | January 2009 | Strategic Analysis
New Challenges of Cyberwar: Stocktaking from Mumbai Experience The November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks have highlighted the new challenges posed by cyberwar. A faked telephone call from the India Foreign Minister to the Pakistani President caused a diplomatic flutter. It appears that the new civilian leadership in Pakistan was not aware of diplomatic protocol involved in such telephonic contacts and was fooled into believing that this was indeed a genuine communication. P. K. Gautam | December 31, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Violence in Pakistan: Trend Analysis November 2008 T. Khurshchev Singh , Alok Bansal | December 31, 2008 | IDSA Comments
‘Transformational Elections’ in Bangladesh As Bangladesh is holding its most closely watched general elections, the apprehension remains whether democracy would prevail in the country. All the uncertainties about the elections were removed when the interim authority repealed the state of emergency that had been prevailing in the country since January 11, 2007. It was on that day that a military backed caretaker government had assumed power after months of political strife and failure of the earlier caretaker government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed to hold free and fair elections. Anand Kumar | December 29, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Brazil in South America: The Awakening of the Giant Since the beginning of the Lula administration in 2003, Brazilian foreign policy has been re-oriented towards a renewed and more extended approach to regional politics. Under Lula, Brazil’s foreign policy approach to South America has been outlined by a kind of ‘pragmatic solidarity’ towards its neighbours. Marco Vieira | December 24, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Serial Blasts in Assam: Are Planners and Perpetrators Different? The October 30, 2008 serial blasts in Assam were the most horrific that the state has witnessed till date. These blasts have completely confused the investigating agencies, which still seem to be focusing only upon the foot soldiers while the real masterminds are sitting happily in Bangladesh and congratulating their points men in India for doing a good job. Anand Kumar | December 24, 2008 | IDSA Comments
