Blame Game on Article 370: Patel, Nehru, and Ayyangar On 5 August 2019, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold decision and made drastic changes to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, thus changing the legal status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This further sparked a debate over the real architect of the Article. There has been a lot of debate and discussion around Article 370. Article 370 provided a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The debate around Article 370 is highly political, biased, and targeted. Pavan Kumar | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
Economic Rationale for the Proposed Bridge Between India and Sri Lanka: An Analytical Perspective The Governments of India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a bridge across the Palk Strait in July 2002 to join the island nation with the mainland of South Asia by road and rail. The objective of this article is to highlight the likely impact the proposed bridge would have on trade in goods and services and travel between the two countries and beyond. Gayasha Sathsarani Samarakoon | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
Militaries in Cyberspace: Approaches, Expectations and Outcomes Militaries are the sword arm of the state, entrusted with defending the state against all threats that would harm its interests. These threats are increasingly emanating from cyberspace and militaries around the world are being called upon formally to undertake responsibility for defending against threats from this domain in addition to the existing physical domains of land, sea, air and space. The unique nature of this domain has required some restructuring on the part of the military. Cherian Samuel | January-March 2023 | Journal of Defence Studies
Emerging Dynamics Between the Chinese State and Big-Tech: The Case of Alibaba The past few years have been tumultuous for the Chinese State and big-tech relations. The ground reality for the big-tech internet companies in China has transformed from being indulgent and overreaching to scrutiny and crackdown. This article attempts to analyse the dynamics between the Chinese State and big tech, taking Alibaba’s journey as a case study. Megha Shrivastava | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
The International System: Economic and Science and Technological Perspectives Two phenomenal developments characterized the change in the international system in the years after the Second World War: (i) the spread of Multi-national Corporations (MNCs) and (ii) the rise of a Third World, with its pluralization of political systems, economic forms and social doctrines. While the former is an important factor in the North–South relationship, the latter development has brought about new changes in the international economic system. S. P. Varma | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
Iran’s Strategic Behaviour Against ISIS: Religio-Cultural Context of Shrines and Martyrdom The killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020 again brought the religio-cultural significance of ‘martyrdom’ into limelight in Iran. He got recognized as the ‘Defender-Martyr of Holy Shrine’ given his role against ISIS in protecting the Shi’i holy shrines. This article analyses the relationship between ‘shrines and ‘martyrdom’ in Iran’s strategy against ISIS. Shafat Yousuf , Rafiullah Azmi | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
India in the Emerging World Order The fact that bipolarity is passing and a new multipolar world structure has emerged, merits a deeper examination. In the political sphere, the interests of the super powers, collaborative or competitive, do influence the existing international order. At the level of avoiding mutual conflict or ensuring peace in Europe, the super powers have taken many steps to reduce tension. But their competition for dominance of the Third World continues. Their influence is particularly evident in conflict situations obtaining, for instance, in Southern Africa and West Asia. P. R. Chari | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
The Braided River: A Journey along the Brahmaputra: Samrat Choudhury, HarperCollins India, Noida, 2021 The Brahmaputra is the oldest antecedent and the widest braided river flowing through China, India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Tsangpo in Tibet, Siang in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh, Dihang in the plains, Brahmaputra in Assam, and the Jamuna in Bangladesh. In The Braided River: A Journey along the Brahmaputra, Samrat Choudhury, a journalist and author, elucidates on the life around Brahmaputra in Assam and Bangladesh. Hassan Momin | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace—and What Lies Ahead: Aryeh Lightstone, New York, Encounter Books, 2022 No one better than a representative assigned the task to put the wheels of the Abraham Accords in motion could give a bird’s eye view of the events leading to signing the Accords and the aftermath. Aryeh Lightstone’s narration of the story surrounding the Accords gains credibility as he was part of high-level discussions on the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ vision. Lightstone was Chief-of-Staff to David Friedman, who served as US Ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021. He was the liaison between the States parties to the Accords and was in charge of facilitating the Accords’ implementation. B. Poornima | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis
Deep State Continuum in Pakistan and Implications for India: Jyoti M. Pathania, New Delhi, KW Publishers, 2022 In a country like Pakistan, where none of its Prime Ministers could ever complete a full five-year term in office, the role of the so-called ‘deep State’ — a term used as a euphemism for its Army—in exercising disproportionate control over the affairs of the country—has often been highlighted. Adil Rasheed | January-February 2023 | Strategic Analysis