Strategic Analysis

Global Power Shifts and Germany’s New Foreign Policy Agenda

The German government’s 2011 abstention from the United Nations Security Council vote on military intervention in Libya raised questions about Germany’s role in the international system. By abstaining, Germany broke with its Western allies and aligned itself with four of the BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Its ‘non-Western’ act unleashed a debate on the future of German foreign policy. This contribution aims to provide an understanding of Germany’s new foreign policy.

Historic 7 March 1971 Speech of Bangabandhu*

“My brothers,

I have come before you today with a heart laden with sadness.

The Indian Test and the Nuclear Game Rules

It is possible to argue that India’s nuclear strategy seems to have changed, but this does not necessarily at present mean a change in the fundamentals of India’s nuclear policy as these were outlined in the late 1940s and the 1950s. The nuclear test appears to have damaged the NPT, and the test implies a re-orientation in India’s relations with China and the Super Powers.

Ashok Kapur
March-April 2023
Strategic Analysis

The Indian Nuclear Test in a Global Perspective

The Pokhran test carried out by the Indian Atomic Energy Commission on 18 May 1974, by and large, evoked predictable reactions. Those countries that had come to accept the conventional wisdom on the issue of nuclear proliferation expressed regrets ranging from mild to profound. Some Third World countries expressed satisfaction but Pakistan reacted very strongly.

Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India’s Foreign Policy, Rajesh Basrur, Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press

The International Relations scholarship in India has rarely paid heed to domestic politics as a variable in foreign policy analysis. Most such attempts have focused on anecdotal discussions; this is mainly to do with the securitised nature of the foreign policy discourse in India. Even in cases where the scholarship has tried to engage with domestic determinants, the focus has been on relations with, or policy towards, specific States or they are treatises on the contribution of statesmen.

Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan, Shenila Khoja-Moolji, Oakland, CA, University of California Press

Asserting sovereignty across its territories remains the primary purpose of the modern State. There exist two kinds of sovereignties: legal sovereignty and de facto sovereignty. While legal sovereignty encompasses the formal ideologies of rule and legality, de facto sovereignty includes the actual ability to kill, punish, and discipline a specific fragment of society or a section of it. Non-State actors can also perform the latter deeds.

The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power, Jacob Helberg, New York, Avid Reader Press

The defining feature of contemporary international politics is the global power struggle taking place at the intersection of technology and geopolitics. This power struggle has given way to a new ‘tech cold war’ between the United States and China. While the United States remains at the forefront of technological innovations, China has through decades of investment in gaining technological knowhow—at times through questionable means as well as through research and development—begun to compete with the best in the world.

Anubha Gupta
March-April 2023
Strategic Analysis

COVID-19 and Lessons from ‘Triple Lock’: COVID Containment Strategy of Kerala Police

This Article reviews Kerala’s efforts to check the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) without additional expenditure or infrastructure and employing the state police forces. This was remarkable in the face of the fact that healthcare systems were stretched the world over and were struggling beyond capacity to treat the number of people affected by the virus. To add to the overstretched healthcare systems, there were reports of attacks on healthcare workers and facilities. The state of Kerala was among the first to report a coronavirus case in January 2020.

India’s Space Policy and Counter-Space Capabilities

As contestation in outer space has evolved into increased militarization since the Cold War era, multiple stakeholders have come to play a significant role in shaping the international regime governing activities of State and non-State actors in outer space. India has interacted with this international regime in a dynamic manner, and currently contributes about 2 per cent to the US$ 360 billion global space industry.

Evolution of Pakistan’s Influence Operations in Jammu & Kashmir: An Analysis

Influence Operations (IOs) are tailored actions to shape perceptions of a targeted audience within the information domain. They pursue political, economic, social, or military outcomes. Their adaptable transparent nature poses challenges for containment. Pakistan’s IOs, active since Partition, target India a (especially Jammu and Kashmir) through State agencies like the Inter-Services Public Relations and its support to non-State entities. Their objectives vary from destabilization to reshaping the culture of J&K.