How effective was the Indian government in sending clear, coercive signals and orchestrating them into coherent messages during 'Operation Parakram' in 2001-02? This study finds that compellence was hampered by three factors: (1) the government kept changing its demands; (2) the lack of adequate civil-military coordination; and (3) the government engaged in a dual-track policy of direct coercion of Pakistan, while simultaneously engaging the United States to put pressure on Pakistan. Ultimately, these two policy strands worked at cross-purposes to each other.

• Patrick C. Bratton |
• July 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

Left Wing Extremism (LWE) presents a serious internal security challenge to India that needs careful and coordinated policy response from both the security front and the development front. For the CPI (Maoists) (Communist Party of India), the main outfit propagating LWE, the plan and execution of this style of people's war against the state is like the Churchillian ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’. At one level, the LWE can be described as a ‘Democratic revolution through tactical offensive with tactical speed in the protracted people's war of strategic defensive’.

• Giridhari Nayak |
• July 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed between India and Nepal in 1950 has been a subject of debate within Nepal. The issue has been regularly featured in left parties' election manifestos in Nepal and become an agenda item in bilateral talks. India has agreed to review, adjust and update the treaty while giving due recognition to the special features of the bilateral relationship. Nepal's reservations to the treaty are based on the argument that the treaty compromises Nepal's ability to pursue an independent defence and foreign policy.

• Nihar R. Nayak |
• July 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

The drivers for sustaining the decades-long growth of the Chinese economy are the subject of enduring conjecture, controversy and even wonder. From a US$1 trillion economy in the 1980s, China's GDP has crossed the US$4 trillion mark and is vying with Japan for the status of the number two economy in the world. China has now set itself the task of becoming a major research and development (R&D) power in the medium-term, signalling its ‘arrival’ as a major power.

• Smita Purushottam |
• July 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

Journeys to Empire: Enlightenment, Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904 by Gordon T. Stewart
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 280, $33, ISBN 978-0521735681

• P. Stobdan |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

The legal status of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is part of Jammu and Kashmir that is under Pakistani occupation, has remained undefined in successive Pakistani constitutions. Pakistan governs the region with ad hoc presidential ordinances, resulting in transitory political arrangements. It was Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who first introduced the so-called Northern Areas Governance Order of 1994, after shelving the draconian and inhumane Frontier Crimes Regulation, with which Pakistan ruled the region like a colony.

• Senge H. Sering |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

Bhabha and his Magnificent Obsessions by G. Venkataraman
University Press, Hyderabad, India, first printed 1994, reprinted 1997, 2004, 2005, 2009 (twice), pp. 206, Rs. 200, ISBN 978-8173710070

• Arvind Gupta |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

The India–Bhutan relationship is perhaps the only bilateral engagement in South Asia, yielding high dividends to both parties. While Bhutan all through the years has appreciated India for its economic assistance, India, for its part, has been sensitive to Bhutan's developmental needs. The relationship has helped Bhutan shape a unique developmental trajectory based on gross national happiness. Bhutan's economy has grown substantially in recent years. However, the development cooperation between the two countries can be effectively divided into three significant waves.

• Medha Bisht |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

Zina O'Leary, The Essential Guide to Doing Research, Vistas Publications, New Delhi, 2005, pp. 226, Rs 350

Nicholas Walliman, Your Research Project: A Step-by-step Guide for First-time Researchers, 2nd ed., Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2005, pp. 450, Rs 560

Clive Opie (ed.), Doing Educational Research: A Guide for First Time Researchers, Vistaar Publishers, New Delhi, 2004 (originally published Sage, London, 2004), pp. 244, Rs 340

• P. K. Gautam |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis

After a hiatus, relations between India and Bangladesh are back on track again. This period was ushered in with the Awami League government assuming power in Dhaka after the culmination of the much delayed ninth Jatiya Sangsad elections. The bilateral relations received a further boost with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day visit to India on January 10, 2010. It was breakthrough visit for a number of reasons.

• Sreeradha Datta |
• May 2010 |
• Strategic Analysis