Strategic Analysis

Ladakh: India’s Gateway to Central Asia

Ladakh is one of the largest administrative units in India, in terms of its territory. Due to its contiguity with Xinjiang and Tibet and its close proximity to Central Asia, and enjoying a central position in the network of overland caravan routes that were linked to the Silk Route, Ladakh acted as an important gateway in the Indo-Central Asian exchange of men, materials and ideas through the ages.

Modi and the Reinvention of Indian Foreign Policy

Ian Hall, Bristol University Press, Bristol, UK, 2019, 236 pp., £75.00 (Hardback), ISBN 978-1529204605

Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact, and Strategic Implications

Sujata Ashwarya, Israel’s Mediterranean Gas: Domestic Governance, Economic Impact, and Strategic Implications, Routledge, London and New York, 2019, 312 pp., Rs.1,495 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-367-37503-4

India’s Eastward Engagement: From Antiquity to Act East Policy

COVID-19: Projecting the National Security Dimensions of Pandemics

National security—in its traditional sense—is associated with the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a state, as well as its critical interests abroad. However, the lethal nature of pandemics is increasingly raising scientific awareness about their national security dimensions.

COVID-19: A Testing Time for UAE–India Relations? A Perspective from Abu Dhabi

Responses against COVID-19 have become one of the defining aspects of the modern-day state system that is testing the organic capacity of nations in particular and the international community in general. Even as most have put in place country-specific counter-COVID-19 measures, there is no denying the fact that the pandemic is an existential crisis that can only be dealt with through national efforts combined with substantial regional and international cooperation.

Impact of COVID-19 on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The global onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic continues as uncertainty swirls around the global economy signalling a slowdown. It is still uncertain how long it will take to arrest the spread of the pandemic and normalcy to be restored. Under the prevailing situation, health has rightly been on the top of the agenda of all the countries which would require scaling up the available health facilities for a robust response. Experts say, until there is a medical solution in the form of vaccine to COVID-19, the health issues will remain the top priority for the governments.

SAARC COVID-19 Fund: Calibrating a Regional Response to the Pandemic

The convening of a video conference of the SAARC leaders by the Indian Prime Minister on March 15 to initiate a regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic came as a surprise to many countries in the region that are fighting the crisis mostly alone, scampering for testing kits, medicines and PPEs and also preparing to deal with the impeding economic crisis.

Asia’s Regional Architecture: Alliances and Institutions in the Pacific Century

Andrew Yeo, Stanford University Press, Redwood, CA, 2019, US$ 70.00, (Hardcover) $58.99, ISBN-10: 1503608441

Georgia 2008: Conflict Dynamics in the Cyber Domain

The article focuses on the Five-Day War, which took place between Georgia and the Russian Federation in August 2008. This war provides the first example of use of cyber-attacks during a conventional military engagement.