The emergence of BRICS is a reflection of the economic power shift from the north to the south. BRICS cooperation is driven by their shared identity as emerging economies. BRICS will play a bigger role in reshaping the world economic order through reform of the existing international institutions and within the framework of G20. It is in no way aimed at toppling the existing world order or forming an anti-West bloc.

• Li Li |
• November 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

The article explores America’s evolving policy towards BRICS in the context of the Trump administration’s new ‘America First’ global strategy. Even though the BRICS grouping has not become an anti-systemic or anti-liberal force, its attempts to form an alternative centre of global power has prompted the US to manage multipolarity. The Trump administration has continued America’s previous policies of hedging potential BRICS consolidation and enhancing its regional engagement in the era of sovereignty revivalism and deglobalisation.

• Vitaly Kozyrev |
• November 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

This article builds on extensive debates on the role of BRICS in world order. But instead of focusing on BRICS’ impact on the world order, the article takes a different methodological approach. It traces how much the evolution of BRICS’ rational was prompted by changes of the international system and Russia’s and China’s grand strategies. The key finding is that the BRICS does not determine major world developments, but acclimatizes to the evolving international situation.

• Igor Denisov , Andrei Kazantsev , Fyodor Lukyanov , Ivan Safranchuk |
• November 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

The article deals with the state of play in the relationships between the United States, India and Russia. The focus of the article is placed on the geopolitical environment in which the three countries have been building their relationships in contemporary times. The author analyses the approaches of the US, India and Russia towards two geographical concepts of the Indo-Pacific and Eurasia. The situation in Afghanistan is examined through perspectives and interests of all three players as each of them is involved—though in a different manner—in the resolution of the crisis.

• Aleksei Zakharov |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

Sri Lanka has always featured in any discussion on Indian Ocean geopolitics. However, its geopolitical significance has increased manifold after the end of the long-drawn war that saw the defeat of the LTTE. The manner in which the war concluded brought international focus on the country, as some of the Tamil leaders sought international indulgence to ensure justice is delivered, and peace brought through war results in a meaningful political solution for the Tamils.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

One of the limitations of Indian foreign policy literature is its apathy towards employing novel approaches and methods. Though Indian foreign policy has gone through a dramatic transformation, particularly in the last two decades, the majority of scholarly attempts still spin around traditional theoretical paradigms. Thus, the academic enterprise on Indian foreign policy remained limited to the realist, liberal and at best post-colonial explanations. The inability of these distinct theoretical traditions to explain the complexity of Indian foreign policy created a void in the literature.

• Rajeesh Kumar |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

Carved by imperial powers, Jordan is a small state surrounded by a large but unstable neighbourhood. Among all the chaos, Jordan offers a semblance of stability sans durability owing to a strained economy, war across borders and the pressure of rehabilitating refugees. In a quest to have robust stability, Jordan has been constantly making efforts to embrace frequent rounds of reforms, active diplomacy and a flexible foreign policy.

• Lakshmi Priya |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

Long before the Atlantic and the Pacific became theatres for commerce and conflict, the Indian Ocean was home to considerable commercial and cultural intercourse. Most recent literature has, however, focused on maritime security and sea power while greater attention ought to be paid to economic development around the Indian Ocean. India’s plans for the development of the ‘Blue Economy’ augurs well for the region.

• Sanjaya Baru |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

Existing concepts (e.g. ‘non-interference’ and ‘pragmatism’) remain too vague to provide explanations for China’s increasingly assertive security policy. To avoid this pitfall, this article adopts a narrower focus on Chinese security policy towards Africa.

• Ivo Ganchev |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis

This article contends that the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) is European Union’s (EU) most visionary trans-regional connectivity project. It theorizes the EU-TRACECA relationship to show that the TRACECA represents different regional integration concepts, and that the EU scripted it invariably for the mutual benefits of its partner states. Conceptually optimistic, the article, nonetheless, discovers certain inextricable complications in the TRACECA’s real working for varying economic profiles of and mutual conflicts among its member countries.

• Mushtaq A. Kaw |
• September 2019 |
• Strategic Analysis