The Paracel Islands dispute has recently resurfaced as a source of conflict between Vietnam and China, who both claim sovereignty over the islands from ‘time immemorial’. This article re-examines their respective claims from an international law perspective. It also focuses on delineating the respective claims with emphasis on sovereignty, territory and self-determination. Based on available sources, this article suggests that Vietnam appears to have a more credible sovereignty claim over the Paracel Islands vis-à-vis China.

• Christopher Budd , Dalbir Ahlawat |
• November 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

Established to fill a gap between policy research and policy innovation, the IDSA is the original gurukul of strategic analyses in modern India. My reminiscences of IDSA in the seventies are a décollage selected to share in a sense of national pride for witnessing some momentous events that became bench marks in shaping India’s defense posture. It (décollage) also expresses professional gratification for being a part of the IDSA faculty with K Subrahmanyam as its Director.

• Swadesh Rana |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

Rendezvous with Rebels is the passionate account of Rajeev Bhattacharyya’s daring journey to the rebel bases in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division where several separatist outfits from India’s troubled Northeast have established a presence. He stayed at the camp of the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) headed by chief of staff Paresh Baruah, who happens to be one of the most wanted men in India.

• Atul K. Thakur |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

The foreign policy of a state is determined by its domestic policy, the internal balance of power. The domestic political configuration of any state has a predominant role in understanding its foreign political moves. Therefore, an attempt to analyse the orientation of a state’s foreign policy without considering such key factors as its political system, interest groups, intra-elite competition and personal ambitions of its leader and others is not feasible.

• Nargiza T. Bektemirova |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

There is a growing tendency among many Western nations to defer to Germany the responsibility for dealing with an ever more recalcitrant Russia. Despite the perils involved, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with her Russian language skills and East German upbringing, has been obliging. Indeed, Russia’s policies towards the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) often have their first port of call in Berlin.

• Lincoln E. Flake |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

While we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Germany and remember more than 25 years of the Peaceful Revolution towards the end that took place in Leipzig and across the German Democratic Republic (GDR), it is also important to turn our attention to the still divided Korean Peninsula, and to maintain the vision of ‘One Korea’. The emphasis should really be on the word ‘vision’. More than 60 years after the devastating Korean War, the Peninsula remains divided and families separated.

• Conrad Rein |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

“Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas. In the twenty-first century the destiny of the world will be decided on its waters”. - Alfred Mahan

The prospects for conflict and/or cooperation in the Indian Ocean are affected by multi-dimensional factors. These prospects, however, have an immediate and direct influence and relationship with the security environment of the Indian Ocean and its littoral states; and most of the factors, in fact, arise out the strategic environment itself.

• Jasjit Singh |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

Strategic geniuses are natural strategic thinkers even without much guidance. While the complexity of strategy makes it extremely difficult to formulate and execute, geniuses like Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz or Chinese General Sun Tzu were successful in developing strategies that are still relevant today. However, as strategic history suggests, military strategists do not need to be geniuses to succeed in creating decisive strategies.1 Strategists only need sufficient expertise to be able to outthink and outmanoeuvre their adversaries.

• Francis C. Domingo |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

India’s Nuclear Policy has undergone a gradual but noticeable change following the underground test of a nuclear device at Pokharan in May 1974. Since early 1970, Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s government had attempted to use peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) as a political ploy for bargaining at international forums on disarmament.

• R.R. Subramanian |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

The realisation that trade and investment are key to development is backed up by development theories and empirical studies. This article identifies existing patterns of trade and investments between India and Africa, whereby Africa has a trade surplus through exports of mostly unprocessed commodities and importing processed merchandise from India.

• Hoseana Bohela Lunogelo |
• September 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis