Waiting for Godot*: India and United Nations Security Council Reform

This article analyses the history of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform with a particular focus on India’s aspiration and attempts to become a permanent member on the Council. The primary objectives of this historical examination are to appreciate how hard reforming the UNSC is and to understand how challenging it will be for India to acquire a permanent seat on the Council. Probing the General Assembly debates on UNSC reform, the article exposes the fundamental hurdles to change, the duplicity of the permanent five (P-5) and lack of unity among the stakeholders.

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Disaster Relief as a Political Tool: Analysing Indian and Chinese Responses after the Nepal Earthquakes

In the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, China and India immediately sent relief teams. The relief efforts in Nepal showcase a competitive aspect of the two major regional powers, as China seeks to gradually increase its influence in South Asia. This article analyses how these two governments utilised relief efforts to increase influence in Nepal, within the wider context of the contentious Sino–Indian relationship. The Chinese and Indian relief responses after the Nepal earthquakes are extrapolated to assess their strategic utility.

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War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft by Robert D. Blackwill and Jennifer M. Harris

Geo-economics was one among several ideational constructs postulated as the likely defining characteristic of international politics after the end of the Cold War. A neologism coined by Edward Luttwak, the construct was premised on 'the waning importance of military power' in the interactions among the core states of the international system, that is, those located in North America, West Europe, and East Asia.

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The Battle for Siachen Glacier: Beyond Just a Bilateral Dispute

Contemporary scholarship working on Indo-Pak issues has tended to view Siachen as a bilateral issue, and therefore, not much literature has been generated analysing the conflict beyond this spatio-temporal realm. Stephen Cohen terms the battle over Siachen as a ‘struggle of two bald men over a comb’ and dismisses the conflict as militarily unimportant. Veteran journalist Myra Macdonald’s book Heights of Madness gives an excellent account of the Siachen saga from both Indian and Pakistani sides but does not provide any strategic evaluation of the conflict. Lt Gen.

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Framing South Africa’s Soft Power through Non-State Sources

South Africa arguably stands well above its regional counterparts in terms of soft power resources. This is not entirely unconnected with the uncalculated attempts by non-state actors to extend the reach of the country’s soft power status across the world. This article probes the contributions of the informal drivers of South Africa’s soft power. These ‘soft powered’ institutions and individuals (with no definite state affiliation) are critical contributors to South Africa’s soft power diplomacy.

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The US Concept and Practice of Hybrid Warfare

The term ‘hybrid warfare’ has been used by American military experts for more than a decade already. However, until recently, there was no officially accepted definition of the term, and, thus, an ambiguity existed over its meaning. As per the analysis of recent local conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine by the US political and military elite, hybrid warfare is a conflict where actors blend techniques, capabilities and resources to achieve their objectives.

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Compressing Politics in Counterinsurgency (COIN): Implications for COIN Theory from India’s Northeast

Counterinsurgency (COIN) has long been recognised as a political phenomenon, but current theoretical understandings of politics in COIN reflect ideal types, overlooking the depth and complexity of the politics of insurgency and COIN. Drawing from India’s experience in its northeastern region, this article argues that COIN theory overlooks the political agency and multiplicity of actors, as well as overlooking the fundamentally political scope of interactions that take place between them.

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